The New Warrior
by Whiteheart7
Summary: A Twoleg who wished to be in the world of Warriors, got her wish. She now lives as a warrior in ThunderClan. There's only one problem: How long will it last? Will she be put back into her old life? Or keep living on in her dreams? (On hiatus until a new Warriors book is out. Sorry.)
1. Chapter 1

I never thought this would happen. I had only hoped. My dream had come true, and now I am living in a world of peace. Dreams come to an end, but my end hasn't come yet. I will live to fight. And fight to live in the world I had wished to be in.

* * *

Daylight shown brightly on the moors. Dewdrops glistened in the green grass and the wind flowed softly. Leaf-fall began to cover the lake's territory, and the weather had gotten cooler. Everything was at peace; the cats who lived on the land had no trouble.

A single cat lay stranded on a hill on the moor, unconscious. The cat was pure white, with a honey colored tail tip and heart mark on her chest. She hadn't known how she got there, or why.

The cat began to awaken, feeling wary and confused. She opened her eyes, having her eyes be an unusual dark brown color. She slowly began to lift herself up, her legs being wobbly as if they were barely used. She pushed herself up after many seconds of trying, and then looked around.

Her vision was blurry, from which she didn't know why. She narrowed her eyes to see better, and made out what she was looking at. A large lake lay in front of her, with trees and a mountain being the background. On her right were more woodlands, with another mountain behind it. Her left showed a marshy wetland on the other side of the lake, and she realized she was standing on the moorland. On the edge of the moorland was a Twoleg barn, with a thunderpath right next to it.

The she-cat couldn't understand. _Am I dreaming? _It felt too real to be a dream; though, everything looked familiar. Yet, it had to be a dream if it were to be real._ I thought I was in bed in my house. Why am I here? _

She began walking towards the edge of the lake, but stopped. She noticed that her movement and surroundings have changed. Everything looked huge as if she had shrunk. Scared, she looked at her left hand; at least she thought it was.

She stared at a white paw. Horrified, she looks across her back and her eyes widened to see a tail attached to her. _What? No no no no no what's going on? _She began to breathe quickly, mystified of how she became a _cat. _

It clicked. _What, no. This can't be real. It's impossible. Am I in...Warriors? _A Twoleg, whisked into the world of Warriors? She had declared it was too real to be a dream, and something would have gone strange by now if it were one. Baffled, she continued padding over to the lake, trying to get used to her new functions. She went down the hill she was on, and stepped onto sand which got wetter as she went on. The she-cat stopped right at the edge of the glistening lake, which to her size, looked to go on quite far.

_Why was I sent here? Did StarClan do this? _She looked up into the sky as if she were to see StarClan. Small clouds were scattered around the blue surface, and the sun shined brightly. She had read ever single Warriors book and has known every secret, most cats, and most of the history there ever was. The books had become something: a meaningful part of her life. She would have never expected to be put inside it. Besides how she got inside it, what part of the story was she in? That was important if she were to be here.

But before anything else, there was one thing she had to do: join ThunderClan. It was crazy to think that a clan would even consider to let a Twoleg join. But she was sent here for a reason, and joining a clan seemed like what she was supposed to do. They had brought in many kittypets...including Sol. What if they thought she was like Sol? Then what?

The she-cat gazed across the sun-shined water, then decided to get to ThunderClan territory before anyone spotted her. She walked along the edge of the lake, knowing the rule of having to be within a few tail-lengths outside of the water. She then began contemplating her name, whether or not to call herself her real name, or her picked out warrior name. More and more questions built up as she continued to the border.

Trying to answer the questions, she walked on until she hit the stream that split ThunderClan and WindClan. She decided to wait near the stream until a patrol came by so she could be escorted to the clan, if they let her.

After waiting a few minutes, she looked up at the sun to see it in the position of noon; the clan would probably send out a sunhigh patrol. By any chance when the patrol comes, she won't become too nervous and stutter every word she says.

After a few more minutes, the cat heard leaves rustle at the entrance of the forest. By instinct, she hid behind a nearby bush to her left. _Why did I do that?, _she thought, _Now how am I going to present myself?_

Peeking through the bush, she saw what looked to be three cats, one brownish with white spots, a golden-brown cat, and one large, entirely brown colored cat. She couldn't figure out who was who, since there were so many names and cats. The large cat waved his tail a certain way, and they all went around the area and sniffed for any unusual scents.

After a minute or two, the brown cat looked to have a confused expression on his face. It sniffed a patch of grass a couple times and then waved his tail to beckon the two others. The others sniffed the patch and looked back at the brown cat, also having confused expressions.

The cat with the white spots spoke, in which it had the voice of a she-cat. "Thornclaw, what do you think the scent is?" _So the brown cat is Thornclaw._

Thornclaw said, "I don't know, I've never come across it." He looked over to his right and looked at the golden-brown cat. "What do you think we should do, Lionblaze?" _Lionblaze! And the girl is..._

Lionblaze responded, "I think we should report it to Bramblestar; the scent doesn't smell like any of the clans, nor kittypets or Twolegs." He looked over to the she-cat. "Blossomfall, go back to camp and tell Bramblestar, we'll stay and investigate." Blossomfall nodded and ran off into the forest.

The cat behind the bush thought to herself, I_ don't know if this is the best moment to show myself, but it's so far a good option. Here goes... _Slowly, the she-cat let herself creep out of behind the bush.

Thornclaw and Lionblaze were looking around the area in search of what the she-cat thought was to be her. She didn't know what any scents smelled like, thanks to the lack of human abilities, so she couldn't tell which scent was hers. She jumped across the stream, now being on ThunderClan territory.

After standing for a few seconds, Lionblaze noticed her, flinched from surprise, and raised his fur. He spoke to Thornclaw in a whispering voice saying, "Hey, there's someone here." Thornclaw stopped his search and went over to Lionblaze. They both walked closer to the she-cat, and stopped two tail-lengths away. They both looked like they were going to attack her.

Thornclaw asked in a harsh way, "Where did you come from? We scented you but didn't see you."

Feeling highly nervous, she honestly answered, "I was hiding behind that bush." She worked her tail to point at the bush she was at.

Lionblaze questioned back. "You should have known you weren't supposed to stray over here. Are you here for any reason?"

The cat answered again, failing as she searched for words, "Well...I-I don't know. I don't come from around here. I..." _Goodness, couldn't I have figured out how to answer? This always happens when I try to answer something when the reason is so ridiculous!, s_he scolded herself. She argued back at herself, _No! I _will _find the words to answer._

She tried to answer again, feeling more confident, "I did come here for a reason. I don't live here, and I would explain if the reason wasn't too strange." She then hoped that the two cats wouldn't force her to leave.

Lionblaze showed a confused face to the answer, and Thornclaw looked unsure. Both looked calmer, knowing the cat isn't a threat. Lionblaze responded, "Well, alright." He glanced over to Thornclaw, then back at the she-cat. Lionblaze was going to speak, but Thornclaw interrupted. "Wait, do you know a cat by the name of Sol?"

Not thinking, the she-cat said, "I am not a part of anything Sol is doing." She shut her muzzle before she said anything else. _Oh, no. If I said I didn't know who he was, then it might have turned out better!_

Thornclaw was going to ask again but Lionblaze stopped him. "Maybe I should talk to her if she's going to explain her 'strange' reason." Thornclaw let out a grunt, looking to be reluctantly agreeing, and padded away, probably back to camp.

Lionblaze sat down, watching the cat, and asked, "Well, what's your reason?"

Gulping with fear, the cat answered, "I..." Talking fast, she burst out the reason of how she came. "I didn't walk here; I somehow appeared on the moor not knowing how I did, then realized I appeared here, where the clans are. I decided it would be best to hopefully stay in ThunderClan to figure out why I'm here." During her hasty explanation, she began to pace. "And I promise I am no where a part of Sol. I know what he did and it was for the stupidest reasons to. And why I appeared on the moor? I don't know. At first I thought I was in bed as my normal self but instead I turned into a cat!" The she-cat panted from her explanation. She went on. "No, I wasn't a cat at first, I was a _Human!_ How do I know about ThunderClan? Because this entire place is based on a book! I have read every book and know every secret, strategy, and...and..." She stopped herself from going on even further, and then realized she had been pacing back and forth without knowing. She stopped and looked at Lionblaze.

He looked completely stunned. The she-cat panted, and sat down waiting for an answer. Silence seemed to come and the only sound was the wind picking up leaves.

Lionblaze looked like he was thinking, then looked up as the white cat said, "Crazy, right? And sorry for the long explanation, I do that when I'm nervous, and I end up being one-hundred percent honest to prove my innocence or something like that."

Lionblaze finally spoke. "Yeah, weird. About how you came, it sounds like something StarClan would do." He paused, then asked, "What's your name?"

The she-cat responded after thinking, "You can call me Whiteheart. It's a name that I chose for myself because of how much I enjoyed reading Warriors." Lionblaze nodded.

The warrior got up and asked a final question. "Do you want to visit ThunderClan? Your appearance could mean something."

Trying to keep her excitement down, said, "I would love to." She smiled and followed Lionblaze into the forest.

Sunlight streamed through the high up branches and dotted the two cat's pelts. The wind twirled the leaves around and rustled the branches, sometimes sending autumn colored leaves to shower onto the ground. _It must be fall, or in this case, Leaf-fall. _A nearby stream flowed down a bank, going towards the lake. _I think that's the stream that got dried up because of the beavers. _Leaves crunched under the pawsteps of the two as they entered a path which had a view of the entrance of the camp. _What in the name of StarClan will the other cats think if another 'cat' joins? I hope I don't get too nervous or scared or anything..._

The two got to the walkway that leads into the gorge. Whiteheart could see cats walk around the camp: elders, kits, warriors, apprentices, and others. They walked to the thorn barrier and squeezed past it into the camp. It was far more crowded than it looked from far away. She whispered 'sorry' and 'excuse me' as she walked past staring cats while following Lionblaze. She heard conversations like queens telling their kits commands and elders speaking to apprentices. Whiteheart kept walking, then noticed she had gotten to the leader's den, having the entrance located on top of the rock pile with the ledge.

Lionblaze said, "Wait here." Then he climbed up the rock pile and went into the den. Whiteheart heard talking up in the den, but nothing harsh. She looked around and saw some cats glancing over to her and whispering about her. The cat felt like she was going to die of embarrassment. This all made her feel extremely uncomfortable with every cat watching her.

Eventually she heard pawsteps come from up top. Lionblaze came down from the den and Bramblestar peeked out after him. Bramblestar stood halfway out of his den and looked at Whiteheart. She also noticed that most of everyone were either looking at the leader, or the new comer. Bramblestar dipped his head to Whiteheart, signaling for her to come in. She clumsily climbed up the rock pile and went through the hole into a small, dim cave.

The cave was big enough to fit three, maybe four, cats at a time, and the only thing in it was a nest to sleep in. Bramblestar laid down in his nest while Whiteheart sat down a few mouse-lengths from the entrance.

The brown-black tabby leader spoke. "Welcome to ThunderClan Whiteheart. Lionblaze told me what you told him, about how you got here. You might be able to stay here for a while, if the clan doesn't make too much of a complaint about it. But before I announce your arrival here, I'll ask you a few questions."

Whiteheart responded, "Well, ask away."

"First off, what do you mean by, 'you are a Twoleg'?"

The she-cat responded, "Because I am? I just was one, then somehow when I was going to sleep in my bed-I mean nest-I just then fell asleep and woke up here. I have always wondered what it would be like to have the life of a warrior, and I guess StarClan answered my prayers."

Bramblestar nodded, then asked, "When you said you, well, _read _something to know us and everything here, what were you talking about?"

"One of the things Twolegs like to do is write. Writing is using a written language. You know how you speak your cat language? Well we have ours, and we use symbols like this," She picked up her right paw and somehow figured out how to unsheathe her claws. She then used the left most claw to make the letter 'B' on some of the dirt on the floor. After showing it, she erased it by sweeping the dirt. "to make letters. Then we made twenty-five more to make written words. We make each letter to have a sound, then combine them to make each word work. And what I read was a book. A book is an object full of words, it can be informational or made up, depending on what kind it is."

Bramblestar looked astonished. "Wow, I didn't know Twolegs were like that. I thought they were just clumsy, mouse-brained animals."

Whiteheart decided not to take any offense to that. "Well, we're not."

"One last thing: if you know everything, then you know the past as well?"

The white cat nodded. "Yes, and I won't say anything because it's either someone else's secret, you wouldn't know, or it's too sad to mention."

The leader nodded in respect of the she-cat's decision. "Alright then. I guess I can hold a clan meeting now. Go stand to the right of the rock pile so every cat can see you." Whiteheart got up and dipped her head.

Whiteheart walked out of the den and climbed down the pile to the right and sat down. Bramblestar walked out after her and stood on the ledge. He spoke the traditional call. "Let all cats old enough to catch their own prey join here beneath the Highledge for a clan meeting!"

Almost every cat was outside, so they moved closer to the Highledge and looked at either Bramblestar or Whiteheart. The white she-cat felt like she wanted to sink into the ground. Being put in front of an audience was worse than being looked at. When everyone was seated, which included kits, everything turned quiet.

Bramblestar started the meeting. "I have called this meeting to discuss something that has happened on a sunhigh patrol. This she-cat, who says to be called Whiteheart, was found saying she was brought here by StarClan. After talking to her about why she is here, I have decided to let her stay." Whispers of a mix of refusal and inquiry began to arouse from the crowd.

One cat, a tom by the sound of it, shouted to Bramblestar, "Why are you letting her join? Why is she so important?"

Another cat said, "She doesn't have a reason of being here even if she is from StarClan!"

Whiteheart tried to look unhurt, and began to nervously scrape the ground with unsheathed claws. Bramblestar answered over the yelling. "She has said she came from StarClan because she was a Twoleg at first." Shock coursed through the crowd and they gasped, and then became quiet. "This may mean something to the clans, and we can't make the mistake of leaving her out there. I will let her stay for three sunrises for any signs to explain why she is here." The clan then got up from sitting and went on with whatever they were doing.

Bramblestar went down the rocks to Whiteheart, and talked to her. "I'm sorry you can't stay any longer. I don't want to upset the clan too much. I just became leader half a moon ago and-"

"Wait!" Whiteheart interrupted him. "The battle between you guys and the dark forest happened two weeks ago? That's probably after Dovewing's Silence and..." She stopped talking, realizing Bramblestar wouldn't know what she was saying. "I mean...when I say two weeks I mean half a moon and when I said Dovewing's Silence, I mean it was a book after the battle." She paused, and then said, "Oh, yes, right. You're still trying to follow in Firestar's foot-I mean paw steps. You'll get the hang of it."

Bramblestar had half understanding look, but didn't question it. "Right." He moved on to another subject. "The other thing I wanted to say is I wanted to see your battle and hunting skills. I'll show you to the mossy clearing."

They immediately went off to the clearing, in which Whiteheart hoped to be empty. They didn't have to walk very far, and the walkway was filled more with roots and rocks than the one she took to camp. She almost tripped a few times because of not knowing how to properly work like a cat. _Great, now that I'm a cat I don't have actual thumbs, or Two-leg-like legs. And I can't grab anything with my paws! At least there's more good things to say, like having a tail, better senses..._Whiteheart kept talking to herself inside her head most of the way to the clearing, like most times.

Eventually they got to the clearing. As she had pictured it, it was a very large clearing with moss covering and cushioning the ground. Trees hung over the area, and it was also quiet. Bramblestar walked to the other side of the clearing with Whiteheart following.

The leader positioned himself in a seat-like root of a tree, and Whiteheart stood in front of him. Bramblestar started the test. "Of course, you'll need a mentor for everything, but I want to see if you are fit for clan life." He got up and stood in front of Whiteheart. "Try to attack me in any way. But, I will defend myself."

Whiteheart nodded. She analyzed what she could do: she could go straight at him but he could easily dodge her. Maybe she could do this...

Figuring out which functions to use, Whiteheart aimed for her left of him, then pounced, turning her head to the right. Bramblestar jumped to his right, but as soon as Whiteheart landed she pounced to her right. She forcefully pushed over Bramblestar, then he hit the soft ground and Whiteheart held him down with her front paws. After that she let him get up, backing away. _That felt...cool, in a way. I hope I didn't hurt him!_

When Bramblestar got up, he said, "You're good, for a Twoleg. I think you'll be quite a fighter."

Whiteheart smiled. "Thanks. I used logic to figure that out actually; I figured you were going to move to your left if I purposely missed, which would catch you off guard a bit. That would be an advantage for me when I turn to push you over."

"Clever." Bramblestar took a few steps towards the exit. "Now, you seem to know how to fight; let's go see if you can catch a mouse."

Whiteheart nodded, then followed him out. Leaf-fall may not be a convenient time for hunting, since prey would be hiding from the cold, and so Whiteheart might have trouble. Bramblestar led her to the stream that flowed to the lake. This would be good because the stream would be a slight sound, and it would partially sound over paw steps. Plus, prey would be near water to drink it often.

Bramblestar began walking to a bush a little far from the stream, and said, "I'll be watching you from over here." He then went to the bush and hid behind it.

Whiteheart then began to sniff around, not smelling anything at first. After a few seconds she began to pick up something. She began to walk downstream, following a trail of the faint scent and keeping her nose close to the ground. The scent started to become stronger as she went. She then stopped, and looked around to see a small squirrel digging at the ground.

Whiteheart tried to remember some techniques about how to hunt. _First, I need to check the wind. _She then stood still and tried to feel which direction the wind was going. It was flowing to the right of her, and since the squirrel was about five tail-lengths in front of her, it couldn't scent her. She then lowered herself, and carefully crawled along the stream, which was on the right of her. _  
_

She concentrated her movement on her paws, making sure she didn't hit a rock or snap a twig. She was about to be close enough to catch the squirrel, but she hadn't paid attention to her tail, which began to drag on the ground. The squirrel got alarmed, and ran up a nearby tree. _Dang it! _She didn't bother trying to chase it, knowing she couldn't outrun it up a tree.

Bramblestar came out of a bush, and went over to Whiteheart. Whiteheart didn't feel bad, she could tell how she was doing well at first. The leader then said, "Well, it seems as though you're good enough for a mentor. Let's get back to camp, shall we?" He then led the way back.

When they both got back to camp, almost every cat was looking at her with either curiosity or annoyance. Whiteheart tried not to lower her head or unsheathe her claws from being watched. Whiteheart sat down to the left most side of camp, while Bramblestar scrambled up the Highledge and called a meeting.

Everyone, apparently waiting outside, gathered and settled down; Bramblestar then spoke. "I have tested Whiteheart to see if she is fit for clan life. She has shown what little she can do, and I believe she is good enough to become an apprentice out of what I have seen. She will be known as Whitepaw until she earns her original name. I have decided her mentor will be Millie." He looked over to who is now Whitepaw. "Your training, Whitepaw, will start tomorrow at sunhigh." The meeting ended, and everyone went on to somewhere else. No one chanted Whitepaw over and over.

Whitepaw thought to herself, _Millie as a mentor won't be so bad. Other than my mentor, I'm just glad I was able to join ThunderClan. And the meeting seemed short, what happened to the traditional speech? I'll ask Bramblestar later. Anyway, everyone will eventually accept me, like they did with Millie and Daisy. But how long will it take for them to accept a Two-leg?_

The question hung in her mind for a second more, before she got up, and began walking to the apprentices' den.


	2. Chapter 2

Whitepaw got up and started to walk away to the apprentices den. She was able to locate it by recognizing two young cats walking back and forth in a cave. She went towards the cave and peeked in. One brown and cream colored apprentice was pawing at a destroyed nest. _Oh yeah, since the battle was two weeks ago, everyone has been trying to repair the camp. Maybe I should help. _Another cat, a ginger one, was also fixing a nest.

Whitepaw introduced herself. "Um, Hi. I'm Whitepaw, the cat who was found at the border. So, can I help any of you with the nests?"

The ginger cat looked over to her. "Oh, sure! And why did Bramblestar say you were a Twoleg? That's really weird!" Her voice was a she-cat's.

The creamy brown cat then said, "Don't listen to my sister; she's the one that's weird. I'm Molepaw, by the way. And she's Cherrypaw."

Cherrypaw turned to her brother. "Hey!"

"It's true! Once you almost pushed me in the lake, but instead I was pushed into some mud! Then you said to Foxleap a squirrel did it!"

Whitepaw giggled. "Okay, I think you guys should get back to work. So, what do I do?"

Molepaw answered, "Cherrypaw and I built the bracken bases, now all we need to do is put some moss on each nest. There's a pile of moss right next to you."

"Okay." Whitepaw then looked to her right to see the pile. She took about a fifth of it off and attempted to carry it with her right paw. _Oh, right. I can't use my hands to carry anymore. I have to use my mouth._

She then reluctantly grabbed the moss with her teeth and carried it to the closest unfinished nest. She placed the moss on the ground. _Yuck! That'll take some getting used to. _Whitepaw then looked at the nest. It looked to be too big for each piece of moss. _I bet the question I'm about to ask is a ridiculous one. _"Hey, Molepaw. How much moss do I lay out on each nest?"

Molepaw had began laying out moss in a nest next to hers, and looked up at her when she asked her question. "Well, wouldn't you know any way?" Whitepaw shook her head. "Are you saying you really were a Twoleg?" Whitepaw nodded again. "Woah! That's way cool! What's it like being a one?"

Cherrypaw interrupted from the other side of the room and looked at Molepaw. "Don't be bugging her with questions! We need to get this done!" Molepaw, annoyed, grunted. She then looked over to Whitepaw. "All you have to do is lay out moss in any place needed. You don't have to completely cover it in moss, just in places that a cat would lay down in." Cherrypaw then went back to putting moss in the nest she was at.

Whitepaw then ripped a piece of moss out of her chunk and placed it randomly on the nest. Then again, and again, and again. Eventually, her nest looked complete. She looked around and only saw Molepaw in the cave, who had moved to a different nest to work on.

Whitepaw asked, "Where's Cherrypaw?"

Molepaw answered with out looking up. "She went to go get more moss." He then looked up and glanced at Whitepaw's nest. "You did pretty good for a first time. But I suggest a little less moss next time, since we don't want to waste a lot of it."

Whitepaw was glad she didn't mess up much, but was confused. "Then what does a regular nest look like?"

Molepaw pointed his tail to the nest he had finished not long before. Whitepaw looked; the nest, to her, looked as if it had too little moss. But, she had to get used to having a less cushioning bed now that she is here. "Then I guess who ever gets this nest would be lucky."

"Yeah." replied the cream colored apprentice.

"I'm back." A muffled voice said outside. Cherrypaw came in the den carrying in a large ball of moss, than placed it on the small pile.

The three began to continue on with the nests for the rest of the day. Whitepaw had finished a second nest, then had taken a break when dusk was about to fall. Molepaw and Cherrypaw had finished around the same time as Whitepaw, and chose their nests. Whitepaw decided on one that was left-most in the cave.

Whitepaw walked outside, and looked around. Shadow covered the clearing, signaling it was sunset. The sky was orange with the sun setting over the trees.

Now that she was noticing the place, she had realized that the place was still somewhat a mess. The elder den, which she figured out was the one with the one cat, was still having work being done to it. The warriors den was huge according to the books, so of course it was still in need of construction. Whitepaw would probably ask to help tomorrow if she had time.

Cats were still out but many of them have gone to their dens to rest for the night. The moon began to show and the sun had just dipped down past the trees. Stars dotted the dark sky, and were now referred to as ancestors to her. Whitepaw looked up. _Should I tell them about astronomy? Maybe it will confuse the clan cats into thinking that stars aren't actually supposed to represent cats. _

The she-cat felt her stomach growl with hunger. _Fresh kill shouldn't taste that bad, let me just see. _She walked over to the fresh-kill pile, which looked stocked pretty well to her. She looked at the pile and spotted a bird, then picked it up. She carried the prey over to the rock wall a few fox-lengths away from the elders den, and sat down.

Without trying to hesitate, she took a bite from it. _Well, I could get used to it, it's close to cooked meat. I guess. _As she continued eating, she wondered what things the cats would react to. _I wonder what the cats will think about singing and songs. It would be cool if one of these cats could sing. But I probably shouldn't tell them too much about Twoleg things, it might make things odd._

Whitepaw finished off the bird, then left it there from her spot. She then walked back to the apprentices den across the almost-empty, moon lit clearing. The she-cat peaked in the cave and saw Cherrypaw and Molepaw were settled in their nests. She quietly made her way to her nest and curled up in it.

Since the day was almost all work, she fell asleep within ten minutes. At first her sleep was nothing but darkness, but then it started transforming into a scenery. A forest started to appear under a bright, starry sky. Whitepaw was standing in a somewhat clear grassy area with the view of the moon up high.

_Where am I? _Whitepaw was about to go wander around when a bush rustled up ahead. She stayed put as two cats came out and seated themselves in front of the she-cat. One cat was ginger, and the other was gray.

The gray cat spoke first. "Greetings, Whitepaw. I am Bluestar. Welcome to StarClan."

Whitepaw immediately got excited. _I'm meeting Bluestar? In StarClan? This is amazing! _Whitepaw controlled her excitement and sat down. She waited for what the former leader had to say.

The ginger cat then said, "I am Firestar. We have called you to StarClan to discuss your time in this world."_ Firestar? This is so cool! _

Bluestar continued on. "What we must say first, is that you were granted here for two reasons: so you may explore what you have desired, and so you could learn one of the many valuable lessons."

Whitepaw understood there was going to be a catch, but she wouldn't have guessed a lesson. She couldn't think at the moment when Firestar went on for Bluestar. "You will also go back to your Twoleg life on a certain day. We will not tell you, but it is when you learn that lesson. You may tell Bramblestar this information when you wake up." The two cats said nothing more, and left through the way they came.

When they left, Whitepaw was still in StarClan territory. She waited for a moment, but she was still there. Figuring that she would be there for a while, she began to walk around and think of what the lesson might be. _Loyalty? No. Friendship? No! Why would friendship be the lesson? Um...how about...oh, I don't know! _She kept pacing around.

After about five minutes of walking and thinking, a mouse ran out into the clearing. Instinctivly, she let it cross her path, then grabbed onto it with her right paw. She crushed it instead of biting its neck and the rodent stopped moving. She first felt shocked, but then a small wave of accomplishment covered her. _I guess I sort of made my first catch._

Afterwards, a tabby gray cat came into the area. Whitepaw looked over to the cat and let go of the mouse, figuring it was the gray cat's. The tom looked over to the dead mouse, then back at Whitepaw and nodded. "Thank you. I thought I might've lost it." He went to go pick the fresh-kill up, but paused as he looked at the she-cat again. "Wait, I've never seen you before. Might you be that so-called Twoleg Firestar has mentioned?"

Whitepaw nodded. As the cat took his prey, she recognized more details about him. She then said to him, "Wait, are you...Ashfur?"

He dropped his prey and looked back at her. "Yeah. Why do you ask?"

"Oh, I was just wondering." To not make it sound odd, she added, "I don't know many of these cats by looks or scent. The books only described what you guys look like, not actual pictures, much."

"I see." Ashfur took his prey and left. Whitepaw was alone again.

_Well, I guess I should go back to..., _She trailed off her thought as she noticed the forest turning fuzzy. Confused, Whitepaw blinked a couple times, and found herself back in her nest, awake. At first she thought she was back home in her bed surrounded by her toys. But when she saw the rock walls of the apprentice den, she remembered.

The den was somewhat bright, and noise was heard outside the den entrance. Whitepaw sat up and looked around the den. Molepaw and Cherrypaw were nowhere in the room, so they must have probably gone out with their mentors. Whitepaw stood up, and walked to the entrance to see the time of day.

Outside, the clearing was less crowded than the day before. Cats were either doing repairs to dens, or doing daily chores or duties. Whitepaw peeked her head out the den, and looked up. She squinted her eyes to block out the sunshine, and saw the sun a small ways from it being sunhigh. Whitepaw sighed in relief that she hadn't slept into her training time.

She walked outside and over to the fresh-kill pile. She picked up what looked to be a robin and seated herself in the same place as last night. While she was eating, she looked around to see who she could recognize. She saw one slow-going cat who was slightly plump, and had ragged, brown fur. He also had a very gray muzzle. _It must be an elder...let's see...Longtail died when a tree fell in the hollow, and Mousefur died in the Great Battle. So it has to be Purdy._

She looked around a bit more and saw a gray cat walking out of a cave. He was carrying a plant in his jaw. _That must be Jayfeather. _She went on, and figured out Brightheart and Berrynose. She giggled when she remembered the warrior name the apprentices called Berrynose when he was about to receive his name. _Berrystumpytail? That is the most funniest name ever! _She kept on looking around until she finished her robin.

When she got up, a tabby, silver-gray cat came up to her and said, "There you are Whitepaw! I'm Millie, your mentor." Whitepaw was confused, but then remembered what cat Bramblestar had put her with.

Whitepaw greeted her shyly. "Er...hi. Um...so, what are we going to do first?"

Millie replied, "I believe I show you the territory first. After that, we can do some battle training." Whitepaw nodded and followed her mentor out.

They both walked out of the camp and began to head to a certain place in the forest.

On the way, Millie asked, as if it was normal, "Since you claim that you know about us, do you know the territory?"

Whitepaw tried to remember the map that contained all the places in ThunderClan. "Well, I remember WindClan and ShadowClan are neighbors, there's an abandoned Twoleg nest somewhere around here, and there's a Twoleg path?"

Millie nodded. "That's correct. And there's also the Sky Oak. Do you remember that?"

Whitepaw nodded, then said, "I remember, that's the tree Cinderheart fell from."

Millie flinched at the response. Whitepaw quickly said, "Um, sorry. I just, um, sorry."

The silver cat shook her head. "No, no, it's fine. Let's continue."

They then went on and walked to the Sky Oak. It was clearly tall, which was exactly how it got its name. Whitepaw gazed at it for a bit before Millie continued the tour. They then went to the other places such as the abandoned Twoleg nest and the path. Since Whitepaw had already been to the WindClan border, Millie took her to the ShadowClan border.

When they got there, Whitepaw remembered how Ivypool got tricked into telling Firestar to fight for the clearing that separated the two clans. Now that she was looking at the actual place, she realized that it _was_ a pretty useless fight.

After the tour, Millie began to take her to the mossy clearing for a training session. They both still didn't begin a conversation, and Whitepaw didn't mind, knowing how strange it must be to talk to a Twoleg. It didn't take long to get to the clearing, and when they did they saw that Molepaw and Cherrypaw were also there with their mentors, Foxleap and Rosepetal. Whitepaw and Millie skirted the area to avoid the others and then went to an unoccupied section of the area.

Millie stopped and turned around to face Whitepaw, then began the training session. "To start, you'll need to learn basic skills, such as paw swipes and being able to pin down your opponent. Let's begin."

Millie began to teach Whitepaw many simple moves; the paw swipe being the easiest. It was hard for the apprentice not to unsheathe her claws, since she was enjoying the thought of being able to fight. Whitepaw even got to work with the two other apprentices to do practice defense fights. Whitepaw learned to do most of the basic skills, but knew she would forget them all since there were so many. She practiced until the sun was a few hours away to sunset.

Millie finished up the battle training. "I think we've done plenty today, you may go ahead and get back to camp." Whitepaw agreed. She felt like she could fall over any minute. "Meet me back here tomorrow at sunhigh. But you can come here early if you want." Whitepaw nodded as Millie began to walk back to camp with the other mentors.

When Whitepaw was about to head out and follow the mentors back to camp, Molepaw and Cherrypaw stopped her. "Wait!" yelled Molepaw. "We want to tell you about the clan, since your new. And you can tell us about you! You know, how it's like to be a Twoleg."

Whitepaw replied, "Sure, but you guys should lead me. I don't exactly think I remember the path back yet."

"Of course." Molepaw led her on, and Cherrypaw walked beside the older she-cat.

Cherrypaw asked a few questions before Molepaw could tell about how ThunderClan was managing. "What's it like being a Twoleg? Do you have apprentice duties like us in your Twoleg world?"

Whitepaw answered. "To answer you're first question, I guess I could say being a Twoleg can be a bit tough. It's similar to clan life. And yes, I have duties. But instead of having a mentor, their called teachers. Young Twolegs have to be sent somewhere with a bunch of other apprentices, which are called students, and be taught by the same teacher."

Cherrypaw eyes widened. "One mentor has to teach many apprentices? How does the teacher handle all of them?"

"Teachers have strict rules. And if you break a rule, you may have to sit in a room for a while. It's called detention, and many students don't want it. So, most of them follow the rules." She added, "Plus, they don't want their parents to punish them either."

Molepaw asked, "Now that you've explained your training system, do you need to know anything about ThunderClan?"

Whitepaw thought for a second. "I don't think there's anything I need to know, unless you know what's happening six moons from now."

Cherrypaw went on with her questions. "Do you have to do stuff in your Twoleg den, like chores?"

"Yes, many of them in fact. If I were to own a Twoleg den, then I would have to wash clothing, clean the dishes, clean the house-" She paused when she noticed she had said 'clothing', 'dishes', and 'house'.

Whitepaw looked to Cherrypaw, and the apprentice looked confused. Whitepaw explained. "Twolegs call dens a house, clothing is what Twolegs put on over their skin, and dishes are items we eat food on."

Molepaw turned his head around and responded, "You have odd names for things. Do you do anything else other than work?"

"Of course. But there are too many to say and you wouldn't know what they are." After she had answered, she looked around and saw that it was getting dark. Molepaw was still leading, and had led them back to camp.

Whitepaw and the two others split up when they entered the clearing. Not many cats were out, and Bramblestar was on the Highledge looking across the area. Whitepaw then remembered the dream she had where Firestar and Bluestar came to her and said why she came here. The she-cat recalled when the two said she could tell the dream to Bramblestar. Whitepaw decided she should just tell him now instead of waiting until morning.

She walked across the clearing and to the leader's den. She looked up and waited for Bramblestar to notice her there. When he did, Whitepaw asked, "Bramblestar, could I talk to you for a moment?"

Bramblestar nodded. "Sure. Come inside my den."

Whitepaw obeyed, and climbed up the rock pile. She went inside the cave and explained. "I know I should have told you this morning, but I had to go out and train with my mentor." Bramblestar nodded as he sat down in his nest. The apprentice went on. "Last night I had a dream. Firestar and Bluestar came to me and told me how I got here: to learn a lesson. They didn't tell me what, but I am not able to leave until I learn whatever I have to."

Bramblestar thought, then responded. "Odd. StarClan has never done anything like this. I guess this means you must stay in ThunderClan, since you really were suppose to come here." He then added, "I will announce to the clan on the third sunrise that you're arrival will be permanent here." He ended the conversation. "If that is all, you may go."

Whitepaw dipped her head, and walked out of the den. She was happy she wasn't going to leave and that she could enjoy being a clan cat for a while.

She began to think again about what Firestar and Bluestar were talking about while on her way to the fresh-kill pile. It would be something serious, something that she specifically would have to learn. _Let me go back to the ones I thought up. I don't need help on loyalty, nor friendship. Kindness? No. Honesty? No. I have no idea!_

She was so deep in her thoughts that she didn't notice a cat was walking in front of her. The two cats bumped each other in the head and backed away. The other cat angrily said, "Hey, watch where you're going!"

"Sorry, I didn't see you." Whitepaw looked up and saw that it was Jayfeather.

Jayfeather looked back up, confused, then asked, "Wait. Are you Whitepaw?"

Whitepaw nodded, but then remembered he was blind and said, "Yes."

Jayfeather said, harshly, "Next time you walk somewhere, be careful." He walked away.

_That was mean._ Whitepaw continued walking to the fresh-kill pile. She got to it and this time picked up a small squirrel. She went to her usual spot, sat down, and tasted the prey. It was different from a bird but wasn't too bad.

While she was eating, the picture of Jayfeather popped up in her mind. When she had read the Omen of the Stars, Jayfeather had become her favorite cat. She didn't know why, she just had him as her favorite. Her second being Graystripe. _Why did that conversation come up? Oh, whatever._

She finished her fresh-kill and went to the apprentice's den. She went in to see Molepaw and Cherrypaw in their nests, but not asleep. They were both chatting about something, but Whitepaw didn't bother to listen. She went to her nest and settled in it.

She was about to try to sleep when Cherrypaw began talking to her. "Hey Whitepaw! Can I ask you another question? Only one!"

Whitepaw tiredly lifted her head up and looked at Cherrypaw, and answered, "Alright. What's your question?"

"Do Twolegs do anything for fun at night?"

_Weird question to ask right now, but I'll answer. _"Yeah. Adult Twolegs might go to somewhere fun, and young Twolegs usually don't do anything, unless you count sleep-overs or bedtime stories."

Cherrypaw looked confused, and Whitepaw realized she used words the apprentice didn't understand. Whitepaw explained. "A sleep-over is when a Twoleg from one house goes to another's for one night, and they usually stay up most of the night. A bedtime story is when an adult Twoleg tells a story to a young Twoleg before he or she goes to sleep."

Molepaw overheard Whitepaw and said, "Could it be possible you could tell us one?"

Whitepaw yawned. "Maybe another night. I'm tired from today."

Whitepaw curled up and put her tail over her nose. She closed her eyes, and almost immediately fell asleep. She would have to get used to long days, but it would all be worth it.

**YES! I'M DONE WITH THIS CHAPTER! I am so very sorry it took me over a month to write this chapter. I got stuck somewhere and some paragraphs got deleted which made me not want to do it but HERE I AM! And I can't wait to get the Bramblestar's Storm book so I can get the allegiances and see who needs to be turned into warriors and who apprentices and who mentors and a bunch of other stuff. I'm just happy I got done with this. **

**Anyway, summer is almost over and I will have to go back to Crazyland, aka school, soon. Another thing to clarify, when Whitepaw was a Twoleg, she was around 14 or 15. Well, I'll be back. Bye!**


	3. Chapter 3

Whitepaw woke up right before dawn. She blinked her eyes open, and looked around the cave. The same two apprentices were there, and nothing much was happening outside. She tried to go back to sleep, but she ended up just laying there, staring into space. She had been there for a week, or in this case, a quarter moon.

Whitepaw had the same routine for the two days after her first training day. She trained, and layed low back at camp. On the third day she was there, she started to practice hunting. She had a tough time with that since she had to pay attention to her movement and surroundings. The hardest part about that was that she had to figure out which scents belonged to what.

On the fourth day, the final day she would have to prove why she had to stay, Bramblestar made his announcement. "StarClan has spoken," he had said, "and Whitepaw must stay with ThunderClan." The clan argued, but Bramblestar didn't back down or change his mind. Whitepaw received glares from most cats for the rest of the day.

She became friends with Molepaw and Cherrypaw, since they didn't mind being with a Twoleg-turned cat. Whitepaw appreciated their kindness and told things about her times of being a Twoleg, despite her saying she didn't want to tell too much. She explained things like what Twolegs do, and why they do things that they just do.

Whitepaw got up and stretched, and then decided to get up and take a walk in the forest. She quietly got out of her nest and made her way to the entrance. She walked outside and started padding across the clearing. Cool morning air went through her fur, though no wind was blowing at the moment. The sun wasn't quite in the sky yet, and clouds shifted above in the dark background.

She walked past the barrier and out into the dim forest. She had partially memorized the ways to get back to camp but would have still needed a bit of guidance. She would only go down the path to the Sky Oak, like she had done once while she was here. She decided it would be a nice place for her to be alone before anyone was awake.

She went down the path to the Sky Oak and glanced around the forest for anything that looks interesting, or for any prey she should could try to catch. When she got to tree, she walked near the edge of the water and laid down.

She began to think back on her days of being there. Nothing much had happened; the clan, of course, didn't become comfortable with her within those days, no other clans were bothering ThunderClan, and training was a little less exciting than she thought.

Out of nowhere, the image of Jayfeather came back. _Why do I keep...oh. I remember. _When she was reading the books, she got another fictional crush; this time, having it be Jayfeather. She didn't know why, it just happened. Ever since that happened, she had been daydreaming how it would all play out if they both ever had the same feelings. But now that she was here, what will become of it?

She drifted off into her thought when something caught her attention. A vole scampered from under one of the tree's roots and near the water a few fox-lengths away from Whitepaw. She got on all fours and began stalking it. She might've had a bit of trouble with hunting, but she would be able to catch something if she were lucky.

She slowly went towards it while it was distracted by the water. She was close enough to catch it when a small wave came and splashed all over the vole. The prey scampered off up the Sky Oak and vanished.

_Mousedung! _Whitepaw laid back down, annoyed. She was thinking about going to look around in the forest when she noticed something drifting in the water. It looked to be a regular stick, but what caught her attention were its marks. She got suspicious and looked closer to it. _Could it be...?_

She went over to it, but she couldn't see it clearly with it bobbing around. She picked it up out of the water with her mouth and laid it back down. Scratches carefully clawed in the stick were marked all over it. And one end of it was jagged as if it had been broken. But it _was_ broken; it was the record branch.

_I wonder where the other piece is. _She didn't want to lose it, so she picked it up again and went over to the Sky Oak. She walked around the tree until she found a hole under one of it's roots. Whitepaw inserted it in, then began to cover it with dirt so no one could find it.

After she did so, she went back to the edge of the lake to see if the other piece was floating around somewhere. It was nowhere to be seen. Knowing there wasn't anything to do with the situation, she went into the forest to try to find some prey.

It was now exactly dawn, and the sun was barely visible in the trees. The sky was a mixture of blue and yellow with faded stars showing. She walked for a bit before hearing rustling on the other side of a bush.

She went into a hunter's crouch and creeped toward the bush. She looked past the bush to see where exactly the prey was. But instead of seeing a small animal, she saw Jayfeather, who looked to be searching for herbs. He wasn't facing her and was prodding a leafy plant.

She backed away to not bother him, but her ear scraped against one of the bush's stems. Jayfeather looked up and turned around. Whitepaw froze. Jayfeather sniffed the air, and said, "Whitepaw?"

She didn't know what to say, so she replied with, "Um, yeah?"

Jayfeather gave a confused look. "Er...what are you doing?"

"Oh, uh, I was just hunting. I thought there was a squirrel around here or something."

Jayfeather casually responded, "Oh, well, there isn't. You should continue elsewhere."

"Yeah, I'll do that." The she-cat backed away and walked to a different area of the forest. _Well that was awkward..._, she thought.

She continued her hunt and luckily caught two small mice. She headed back to the camp and deposited her prey in the fresh-kill pile. She was walking to the apprentices den when out of nowhere, Blossomfall came up to Whitepaw.

Blossomfall said, "Hey, Whitepaw. I was thinking maybe you could join a border patrol with me at sunset? You know, to have a bit more experience of being a clan cat." Whitepaw hesitated for a moment.

On border patrols, the main thing was to sniff out any unusual scents and to renew the border. She could barely tell two scents apart and could make the mistake frequently. And renewing the border didn't sound like something she wanted to do. Plus, being in a group with cats she only knew by reading about them would feel like she would be with strangers.

Whitepaw declined. "No thanks. I don't think I want to be on a border patrol just yet."

Blossomfall looked confused. "It's not that complicated." She then added, harshly, "A Twoleg knowing about _us_ and our _lives_ would probably know what to do."

Whitepaw calmly said, "It's not the same as actually being here. Plus I would feel a bit pressure for having to make sure there's no weird scents. And I don't know many scents. And about me knowing everything, it's not like I'm going to tell everyone's secrets to the world. Since I didn't expect this place to exist, I wouldn't have really thought about how you guys would react."

Blossomfall looked to be taken aback by the response. She softened her tone and immediately apologized. "Oh, I guess you're right. I'm sorry." She then admitted, "To be honest, knowing how you practically spied on our lives is kind of...disturbing."

Whitepaw could see how that could weird to know. She replied, "Well, I can't exactly say _I'm_ sorry for knowing. I liked reading about your lives, that's pretty much what a book is: entertainment." Whitepaw added, "But I took the series seriously. Like when there's death or when other serious stuff happens. I pretty much honored this world. I even wanted StarClan to exist back home."

Blossomfall looked shocked. "How could a Twoleg show such respect? Even for something that cannot exist in your world?"

The white she-cat shrugged. "As cats have said, Twolegs are strange. Strange enough to honor made-up worlds. But if you think that's weird, try watching the things Twolegs do. They invent all sorts of crazy things to do."

"Really? Like what?"

From that moment they started a conversation. Whitepaw and Blossomfall talked until all of their clanmates were out of their dens. Some cats stared at them as if amazed that the Twoleg-turned cat was talking to a clan cat. As if instantly, the two became friends.

While laying down in the center of the camp and eating fresh-kill, Whitepaw having a squirrel and Blossomfall having a vole, they were on the subject of education. "You have to learn all of that? And I thought being a warrior was hard work." Blossomfall said surprised.

"Yeah, six subjects with many categories. At least we don't have to train to fight." Whitepaw explained, then took a bite of her squirrel.

The dappled cat responded, "You don't? But you have to fight sometime! There has to be disagreements."

Whitepaw swallowed her mouthful. "We do, but not all of us want to join an army. Some of us want to become something else."

"Like what?", inquires Blossomfall.

"Great StarClan, there are too many to count. Well, there are many categories, like the arts, sports, politics, scientific jobs..." She trailed off, once again saying words cats don't know.

Blossomfall made her confused face, and Whitepaw explained. After she did, Millie walked up to them. She looked over to Whitepaw and said, "Well, I see that you've met my daughter, but you two are going to have to end your little chat. Whitepaw has some hunting practice to do."

Whitepaw looked up and saw the sun at the position of sunhigh. _It's that time already? _She had been talking to Blossomfall for so long she lost track of time. Thank StarClan she was in camp at the time instead of a random place in the forest. That would have been bad.

"Oh, okay." She got up and looked to Blossomfall. "So...see you later?" Blossomfall nodded. Whitepaw smiled and went into the forest with her mentor.

While Millie was leading the way, the mentor asked, "Are you getting used to being a clan cat yet?"

Whitepaw thought for a moment. "Sort of. Living here is way different from my life since I was always inside a temperature controlled den, had a cushiony nest, and had pets."

"Pets? You mean a kittypet was living with you?"

"No, I had a dog."

Millie looked to be disgusted. "Dogs! Why do Twolegs let those flea infested beasts run all over their territory?" she hissed.

Whitepaw explained. "Well, I find dogs more playful and sweeter than cats. Don't get me wrong, I like living with you guys. But I would rather have a dog as a pet; cats scratch more often and they seem more aggressive." Millie looked at her with wide eyes. Whitepaw said, "I'm saying this from a Twoleg perspective."

Millie faced forward again and calmly said, "Well, it is your preference. As you know, cats and dogs don't mix very well. They took many lives away."

The apprentice then said, "Then good thing my dog doesn't attack cats. She only barks at them."

"Good. Then we have one less dog to worry about." Millie stopped in a small clearing and circled around to face Whitepaw.

"First, let's go over the hunting crouch and instructions again. And remember: keep your tail up and equalize your weight in your paws." Millie demonstrated the crouch. "This way, you'll be ready to pounce when your close enough to your prey."

Whitepaw copied the gray she-cat. She made sure she did what she had been instructed, before Millie continued. "Next, make sure you check your surroundings when ever you have prey in sight. Always check the wind first." Whitepaw nodded. Millie went on. "Now, you may look around for any scent trails. Don't go too far."

"Okay." Whitepaw left the area and sniffed around. She did find something, but it didn't smell like prey. She didn't know what it smelled like. Maybe a new scent she hadn't learned yet? She still had some to memorize but the scent seemed odd.

After a few minutes, someone said, "Did you find a scent trail?" Millie had come into the area, probably to check on Whitepaw. The mentor came over when she didn't receive an answer.

Millie checked the scent, being angry after. "ShadowClan, no doubt. Some cat must have come across the border." She turned to Whitepaw. "Good thing you found it." The apprentice smiled with pride.

Whitepaw was being led by Millie to the border with a thought on her mind. _There are way too many cats to guess who it could be.__ If only I was reading these events in a book the answer would come faster!_

The two cats came into the clearing, and then split up and began to search the area. Whitepaw went along the border so she could see where it had been crossed. She found the same scent, but this time the scent is stronger. Whitepaw worked her tail until she did the right act with it to tell Millie to go over to her. Millie inspected the scent, and nodded in approval.

"Well done, Whitepaw. Let's go report this to Bramblestar, then continue your training." Millie took the lead again and the two went back to camp.

* * *

While Millie was reporting to Bramblestar, Blossomfall came up to Whitepaw, who was near the Highledge. "What's this about?"

"Oh, we found ShadowClan scent many fox-lengths from the border. Sounds worse than ever if you ask me." Whitepaw was baffled as of why a ShadowClan cat would go so far in another clan's territory. It could be serious.

Blossomfall had the same reaction. "Really? I thought the clans would be quiet for a few moons before pulling something off like this. I would have thought that the other clans would think the Great Battle would be trouble enough. I guess I thought wrong!" She then left. Whitepaw waited for Millie to come out.

When the she-cat did, she came down the rock pile and told Whitepaw Bramblestar's orders. "Bramblestar said he would ask Squirrelflight to arrange more patrols to go around the ShadowClan border. Let's just hope ShadowClan knows what their doing." Millie changed the subject. "We can continue your training now. Let's get back into the forest."

* * *

Whitepaw had an unlucky day. She did everything correctly, but when it came to actually catching prey it didn't go well. There was barely any rodents out and when she found one they ran the last second. She came back to the clan empty pawed.

Millie didn't blame her, and that Whitepaw could try again tomorrow. The apprentice hoped she would feed the clan a bit more since she pretty much felt like she was just being there for the sake of being there.

It was now an hour until dawn, and plenty of time to still do something. She decided to go see the kits and play with them for a bit. She then remembered Daisy was in there, the former kittypet who takes care of the kits. She tried to remember the other cats in there, since the kits still need their mothers.

She entered the nursery to see Brightheart and Daisy with Seedkit, Lilykit, Snowkit, Amberkit, and Dewkit. Daisy was the first one to notice her enter, and greeted her kindly with her soft voice. "Oh, hello. Whitepaw, is it?" Whitepaw nodded. "Well, welcome to the nursery."

Brightheart then turned to her. Brightheart asked, "What are you doing here?"

Whitepaw simply said, "I just wanted to see the kits."

Brightheart gave her a surprised look. Brightheart then spoke quietly to a dark, tabby kit with white patches. Whitepaw couldn't hear them exactly but it sounded like she was telling the kit to be careful._ I figured. It would take an extra long time to trust a Twoleg with a kit._

The queen nudged the kit to Whitepaw, saying, "This is Lilykit."

Lilykit nervously stumbled to Whitepaw and met her without looking up. The kit said, "H-hello."

_Why oh why must the bad Twolegs be presented to these cats?_ Whitepaw, with a smile, said, "Hi, I'm Whitepaw, the new cat." The kit still looked scared. Whitepaw calmly said, "It's okay, I won't hurt you."

"How do I know you won't? I heard Bramblestar say you know everything. So that means you know how to get rid of us." Lilykit looked up to her, and Whitepaw saw the kit's scared eyes.

Whitepaw felt bad, and replied, "I might be a bit clever, but I don't know how to get rid of ThunderClan. You and your littermates and denmates would probably defeat me if I tried!" Lilykit giggled.

The kit smiled. "Yeah, you wouldn't stand a chance against me!" The kit then pounced on Whitepaw. Whitepaw fell dramatically and said, "Oh no! You got me!" The tabby kit laughed, and then the other four kits started to playfully attack the apprentice.

Brightheart and Daisy watched them, with both surprised and amused faces. Whitepaw and the kits played until the sun was just about to touch the edge of the world, making it sunset.

The white she-cat left, saying good bye, and began to head to the apprentice den when something bumped into her flank. She said, "Watch where your going!"

She turned to see it was Jayfeather. Again. "Oh, sorry, again."

Jayfeather looked up. "Whitepaw? Okay, how are we always bumping into each other?"

_Let's blame fate, shall we? _Whitepaw just replied with, "I have no idea."

Jayfeather then walked away. Whitepaw kept walking, praying to StarClan that no one else would bother her so she could just go to sleep. Unfortunately, something pulled lightly on her tail. She turned around and saw no one.

_StarClan, just let me rest! _She was about to turn around when she saw two pairs of gleaming eyes right outside the camp walls. _What in the name of StarClan? _She stared at it for a few seconds, before the eyes quickly turned around and dashed into the forest. Suspicous, she decided to investigate.

Whitepaw walked through the clearing and out of camp. She went to the exact spot the thing was at and looked around. She soon found a scent trail leading in the direction of ShadowClan territory, but it was the same scent as earlier today. Shocked, she quickly padded along the scent trail.

At first she wasn't sure if it was a ShadowClan cat. There was only one animal to follow, so there was no invasion. But it since it was the same ShadowClan scent, she wasn't sure what it was. No cat would go this far into someone else's territory.

The scent got stronger and stronger to where she was able to hear paw steps ahead...and heavy breathing. She went forward a bit, but the thing ran off, by the sound of it. Whitepaw followed. Eventually a chase formed and she focused as much as she could so she wouldn't lose it. They both were headed for ShadowClan territory, making it clear that it was a ShadowClan cat.

She went as fast as she could, and ended up seeing the cat in a clear view. In the sun's last rays of the day, the cat was dark brown with black stripes. Whitepaw's eyes widened in realization.

The apprentice blurted out the first cat that came to her mind. "Tigerheart?"

Tigerheart turned his head around and looked shock. His shock didn't last long; since he didn't know where he was going, he ran right into a tree. He fell to his side and quietly whimpered in pain. Whitepaw stood over him, angry.

"What the heck were you doing this far into ThunderClan territory?" Whitepaw hissed. Tigerheart tried to escape, but Whitepaw him down with her front paws, and stood on him. "Tell me! Then, I can report you to Bramblestar!"

"I have a good reason!" Tigerheart pleaded. He stayed in his limp position and didn't struggle much.

Whitepaw was confused, but listened anyway. _This better be good! _"Fine, but if it's not good enough, I'm reporting you!"

The intruder was quiet for a moment. He sighed deeply, and said, "I came here to see Dovewing."

Whitepaw was shocked, and got off of him to let him get up. She couldn't believe it. She yelled, "So you went all the way from your clan, technically breaking two rules, to see Dovewing again? I thought she ended this!"

"Shh! Don't let anyone hear!" said Tigerheart, quietly. "She did, but I was going to ask her for a second chance. That maybe we could be still be friends."

"And you couldn't have waited until the next gathering?" Whitepaw realized her last sentence. "Let me rephrase that: Couldn't you have just forgotten the idea?"

"No. And I wouldn't be able to go to the gathering. I've been banned from going to it so I couldn't see her. Blackstar said I would be able to go to it in three moons. He was guessing Dovewing would move on by then."

Whitepaw cut in. "Then Blackstar knows what he's doing."

Tigerheart hissed, "Let me finish! I waited by the border for half a moon but she hasn't come. I wanted to see her so badly so I couldn't help but go across the border." Acting as if Whitepaw was a guide, he asked, "Now, where is she?" His amber eyes showed his desperation.

Whitepaw stared at him as if he had two heads. "Are you joking? Do you really expect me to show you where Dovewing is?" She unsheathed her claws went closer to Tigerheart, who was backing away. "Get back to your clan. Now."

"No! I haven't come here for nothing!" He unsheathed his claws as well and tried to paw swipe Whitepaw's ear. "Now let me pass!"

Whitepaw pounced on him. Tigerheart was slammed against the tree, and the two started a fight. Tigerheart pushed Whitepaw away and tried to jump onto her. Whitepaw crouched down and dodged him, then got back up and turned around to face him. By the time she did, Tigerheart had already turned around. The ShadowClan cat tried to claw Whitepaw's nose but she pulled away just in time.

Whitepaw then pounced onto him again and knocked him to the ground. She forcefully slammed her paws down onto his side and scrapped them across his flank. Small droplets of blood showed on the dark pelt.

Tigerheart quickly got up and whipped around with his paw swiping across Whitepaw's cheek. She yowled in pain, but was mostly shocked from how much it actually hurts. She couldn't react quick enough and Tigerheart pushed her down and tried to scratch her belly. Angry, Whitepaw rolled in the direction of Tigerheart and tripped him.

The tabby cat fell, and Whitepaw got up and bit into his shoulder and hard as she could. Tigerheart yowled. Whitepaw then stood over him and held him down. Tigerheart struggled to get out of the she-cat's grasped but it didn't work.

Whitepaw looked at him in the eye, and said, "You are very lucky no one else found you. Now get back to your clan before I consider to blind you the next time I see you." Tigerheart didn't say anything back.

She let the ShadowClan cat go, and he quickly limped away from the apprentice into the forest. Whitepaw sighed heavily. She couldn't believe what she had just heard and witnessed. Tigerheart would have never gone this far.

Other than that, she was shocked about how much of a fight he put up. She had never experienced anything like it in her life. She had to report this to Bramblestar immediately. Not to waste any more time, she began to run back to camp.

**Tigerheart...GET OVER IT! Man, so much stuff happened. Whitepaw had her first fight, she got a new friend, she remembered her crush for Jayfeather...**

**Well, this is it for now. I'll be back! Bye.**


	4. Chapter 4

Whitepaw tried to find the way back to camp. It was now night so it was harder to see, but she pushed on and tried to recognize the way back. Here first thought was that she didn't want to get seen by a fox or badger, but then a different subject came to mind. She thought about how the others reacted to her.

Determination flowed through her, most of it being to prove her trust. Over the past week, no one showed their faces happily to her or wanted to meet her; actually, the fact that she didn't have many friends there was pretty much her own fault, being shy and all.

But her current goal was to be accepted. She wanted the feeling of knowing that everyone doesn't dislike her for being a Twoleg once. She couldn't blame them, some Twolegs did take the cats' first home away, and killed a few cats in the process. If only they knew that all Twolegs weren't that bad. But that would never happen, since they could never understand them emotionally or physically.

She finally found the large stone gorge ahead. She ran to it and burst through the entrance, and then found herself being stared at by others. Bramblestar was on the Highledge staring at her too, and his eyes widened. Her clanmates began to whisper, and Bramblestar stood up and asked, "Whitepaw, where were you? And what happened to you?"

Whitepaw panted from running so far, but answered the question. "A ShadowClan cat went across the border and was at the entrance of the camp. I saw him and chased after him. He stopped, saying he needed to do something that involved breaking the warrior code. I didn't let him and tried to chase him back to the border." She paused and panted. "We started a fight, but I won and he ran back to his clan. At least, I hope he did."

Yowls of rage filled the stone hollow, asking to attack and invade ShadowClan. Bramblestar didn't protest, looking furious. Whitepaw panicked and thought, _I haven't told the whole story yet!_ She yowled to silence the cats, but they didn't listen. Bramblestar leaped off the Highledge and padded toward Whitepaw.

He went up to the apprentice and asked, yelling over the other cats, "Whitepaw, tell me this is a mistake. No cat would would cross another clan's border for the sake of it. Are there any other details?"

"I was going to say that it didn't have to do with ShadowClan! It only had to do with that particular ShadowClan cat and a clanmate here. He told me why and it doesn't have to do with invasion." She hoped Bramblestar was convinced. She didn't want the clan to have to speak with another leader about something that would get both ShadowClan and ThunderClan into trouble.

Bramblestar was utterly confused. Before he went on, he shouted, "Silence" to his clan. Every cat was quiet, but then watched the leader. Bramblestar asked Whitepaw, "Why did the cat cross?"

Whitepaw stood quietly for a long while, not knowing what to say. If ThunderClan knew about Tigerheart and Dovewing, Dovewing would be punished no doubt. Whitepaw couldn't do that to her, not in this situation.

"I cannot tell you. But I can say that the ShadowClan cat was Tigerheart. He came here to break two codes, one of those codes involving another cat here. I don't want to hurt that cat, so I can't. I'm sorry." Everything was so quiet that you could here the wind whistling through the trees.

Squirrelflight walked up next to Bramblestar, and the two exchanged looks. Finally, the clan leader said, "Very well. But extra border patrols will be sent out daily to the ShadowClan borders. We can't have anything more like this even if it has nothing to do with invasion." The two cats began to walk into the crowd.

Before they did, Bramblestar looked back and said, "By the way, well done. You have proven yourself part way." He then vanished into the group of cats. Almost instantly, a tabby, light brown she-cat came forward and walked towards Whitepaw. The apprentice noticed the cat to be Leafpool.

The medicine cat said, "Come with me." Whitepaw was led to the medicine cat den.

It was as Whitepaw imagined the den. A small stone cave with an arch doorway that leads to the supplies. Whitepaw was seated in a nest, followed by her claw scratch wound on her right cheek being dealt with. Leafpool noted it was dripping blood, and then used some cobwebs to stop the flow. She then later came back with a ball of moss.

"The cuts aren't too deep, so they should just heal." The she-cat said, after washing the cuts with the ball of moss. Whitepaw was relieved it was nothing serious, since she was so new with these types of injuries. Leafpool then went away to the medicine supplies.

Whitepaw then noticed Briarlight in the den, lying in her nest as usual. She wasn't doing anything, just observing Whitepaw. The dark brown she-cat looked away when the apprentice looked over to her, looking either uncomfortable or embarrassed; Whitepaw couldn't tell.

Leafpool then came back with an herb. It was a tall stem with many yellow ends sticking out of it. Leafpool then chewed a small stalk of it and started licking the wound. Whitepaw knew it was perfectly normal, but felt a bit awkward sitting there like that during the process.

Leafpool stopped. "There. I put goldenrod on your wound to heal it. There shouldn't be an infection, so you'll be fine." She turned around and began to put back the goldenrod. "I have to say, I would have never expected a Twoleg to have done what you did. Maybe StarClan had a point in bringing you here, but I'm still not sure it was their best idea."

Whitepaw decided to take that as a compliment. "Er...thanks?"

"You're welcome." she replied. Just then, Jayfeather came in carrying a puffy herb in his jaws. He went through the den and placed the herb in an empty spot in the storage. He stopped when he was halfway out of the storage doorway.

"Leafpool, what happened when I was gone? I keep hearing everyone mention Whitepaw and a ShadowClan cat." He then turned in the direction of the white apprentice. "Whitepaw, what are you in here for?"

Whitepaw answered both questions by summarizing the scene. "A ShadowClan cat came across the border and I tried to get him to turn around and go back. He refused and we started a fight. I got slightly wounded, but he ran off in the end."

Jayfeather responded, "How far from the border, and did he have a purpose?"

"He was right outside the camp, and he wanted to see someone here."

Jayfeather seemed to be thinking, but then asked, "Was the ShadowClan cat anyone in particular?"

"He was Tigerheart."

"Who was he looking for?"

"As I said to Bramblestar, I can't say." Whitepaw hoped Jayfeather wouldn't go into her mind and try to find the answer, if he even still had his power.

Jayfeather looked at her suspiciously, but was content with the answer. "Alright. Let's all hope StarClan won't let him run past the border again." He padded out of the den.

Leafpool spoke to Whitepaw. "You may go. Make sure nothing rubs against that scratch during the night."

"Okay." She got up and walked out of the den. It was now twilight and the gorge's shadows covered the clearing, making it twice as hard to see. The sky was dark and StarClan cats specked the sky. The moon looked almost full, hinting that a gathering may come soon.

She tried to pinpoint the apprentice den when Blossomfall came up next to her. "Though that ShadowClan cat had an odd reason, you did what any other cat would do. And you said you weren't ready to go on a dusk patrol." she teased.

"That's a bit different. This was more like...being more on my own and the problem was a bit personal for the intruder. Plus I..." She stopped talking before she would accidentally reveal Tigerheart's secret.

Blossomfall stared at her, waiting for her to complete the sentence. When there was silence, the warrior asked, "'You' what? And what do you mean when you said the motivation of the cat was personal?"

Whitepaw couldn't just tell it to her even if Blossomfall was one of the few cats kind enough to talk to her. It wasn't the whole Dark Forest thing that bugged her, it was that she didn't know this cat personally.

"No. I can't tell you. It wouldn't be fair to the ShadowClan cat if I told his secret." Along with the stranger thing, even if it was the enemy she's talking about, she respects all secrets.

"Why not? It can't be that bad. And it's just a ShadowClan cat, it is not like it will matter to ThunderClan."

Whitepaw widened her eyes in shock. "It _does_ matter to ThunderClan! If only you wouldn't freak out over it I wouldn't have to be hiding it!"

"I won't freak out, I promise. Why would ShadowClan have anything to do with ThunderClan? That definitely doesn't sound right." Blossomfall looked at her with a hopeful expression.

"I'm sorry. I must respect their secret." She unexpectedly yawned, then remembered what she wanted to do before the fight. "Now, it's late, for me. I should be in bed. See you later." She walked away without another word.

She padded into the apprentice den, seeing the two other apprentices fast asleep, and got settled in her nest. It didn't take long to fall into a deep sleep, followed by a dream.

She opened her eyes and found herself staring at a dark, gloomy forest; she was standing right outside it. Behind her was a well grown forest with cats in the distance under a clear, starry sky. She then realized she was in StarClan again, but was instead brought to the Dark Forest border.

_Why would I be..._, she trailed off her thought as something ahead was visible in the murky woods. It was obviously a cat, but something about it was familiar. He or she had black and orange patches over their white fur. _Black and orange...no. It can't be._

When that name hit her mind she unsheathed her claws and showed her teeth. The splotched cat came out of the woods and stood at the edge of the border, having a malicious smile on her face.

"Hello, Whitepaw. I am Mapleshade." Whitepaw growled. Mapleshade replied with a teasing tone. "That's not how you treat a StarClan cat, is it?"

"I'm not stupid. I know who you are and what you've done." Whitepaw hissed.

Mapleshade changed her expression to a serious one. "Fine, be like that. I just came here to tell you why I summoned you to me. I have a deal for you."

Whitepaw rolled her eyes. "When I said I knew everything, I wasn't joking. I know what you did the last time you made a deal: you killed an entire cat's family. If you don't have anything interesting to ask or say, I'm leaving."

The Dark Forest cat looked at her, seeming slightly frustrated. "There is only one thing I ask of you, unless you don't want it."

"Bye." Whitepaw said, cruelly. Without another word, she left, leaving Mapleshade standing there.

"If that's how you're going play, so be it!" Mapleshade hissed. After that, the dream ended all of a sudden.

Whitepaw was then lying in her nest again. She opened her eyes to darkness, and then tried to locate the cave entrance to see the time of day. She couldn't see it anywhere. _I must have woken up at midnight_, she thought. She tried to go back to sleep, but couldn't. She couldn't just take a walk, she wouldn't be able to see anything. She knew cats were able to see at night, but couldn't understand why she didn't have the same vision.

_I guess my Twoleg eyes came with me._ She tried to sleep again, feeling like it was eternity before she finally fell asleep.

* * *

Dawn approached the day and took over the night sky. Whitepaw, though not having much sleep that night, still woke up at that time. She yawned and got up. She walked out of the den into a dark sky-covered clearing. It was raining softly against the rocky ground with wind blowing outside of the gorge.

No cats were out, so she went through the quiet area and out into the forest, not minding the rain. While walking to the Sky Oak, she recalled the dream she had last night. She was shocked to see that Mapleshade was the one that brought her there. Of all cats it had to be that mouse-brained murderer.

To start, she first found out Mapleshade when she was preparing for the battle between the living and dead cats. Whitepaw had thought of her as nothing unusual, just another random Dark Forest cat. Once she read that she had killed Spottedleaf, she thought of her as bad as Brokenstar.

What really got the apprentice was when when she read Crookedstar's Promise. She had no idea that Mapleshade was the one that killed all of Crookedstar's family; including Silverstream.

Whitepaw had no one to blame when Silverstream died. She had to keep mind that it was just a very heartbreaking mishap. She never liked seeing the cats in the books lose a mate or any family. She would feel a part of their grief along with the fictional cats. She was then angry when she discovered Mapleshade was to blame, and had always hoped the Dark Forest cat would get what she deserved.

Yet it never happened. She's still in her gloomy forest, and still has the opportunity to kill. Eventually, either a clan cat or herself would have to deal with her. Either way Mapleshade had to be dealt with to never hurt a soul again.

She reached the tree but paused when she was on the right side of it. She looked to her left and saw the record branch. She went over to it and pulled it out of its place. She carried it over to her sitting spot and placed it a tail-length from the water's edge.

She just examined it to see if there's anything else strange about it. But after about a minute all she could say about it was that it was the same: a stick with claw marks.

Whitepaw looked across the lake to see WindClan territory. Nothing was going on there, just the wide field being softly poured on by rain. It was the only other territory she could see since RiverClan territory is too far and ShadowClan is covered with pine trees.

Another thought came to mind: what would it be like at the gathering? She knew none of the cats would recognize her and that no one would wonder about her actual identity; she just was asking a general question. She also wondered if Bramblestar is going to mention her, and noted that the clans would most likely disagree with the decision of bringing another cat in, if he did tell the clans.

A shuffle in the bushes distracted her from her thoughts. After a few seconds, the being came out and it seemed to just be a regular mouse. Seeing that gave her a rather odd idea. _You know, what would it be like to fish as a cat?_ She looked over the edge of the water to spot a fish. When she saw a small flicker of movement, she thought, _I really hope no one sees this._

She unsheathed her right paw and raised it. She remembered some of the rules, like not having your shadow on the water, and did as said. She was about to charge her paw into the water when she heard another rustle in the bushes near the forest. _It's probably just another rodent._

Instead of silence afterwards, Whitepaw heard, "Um, Whitepaw? What are you doing?"

Whitepaw sheathed her claws, put her paw down, and looked over to see Blossomfall standing right outside the forest. "Oh, I was just seeing what it's like to catch a fish as a cat." she confessed.

Blossomfall just stood there. "Only RiverClan fish. And I don't think you should hunt their prey anyway."

"This was only a one time thing. And I was going to put the fish back in the water if it was still alive."

"Why would you do that?"

"Why kill it if I wasn't going to eat it? It's called catch and release for Twolegs."

"You and your Twoleg life. Is there no limit to the things they do?" The warrior began walking to Whitepaw.

The apprentice then remembered the stick she brought over there. She grabbed it with her mouth and moved it the the right of her. Blossomfall laid down on the left side of Whitepaw and didn't question about the branch.

Blossomfall began talking again. "I know I shouldn't ask this to a Twoleg, but do you want to be my friend? And I also know we only talked for the first time yesterday, but you're different. I would have expected a Twoleg to be more...nervous or harsh around us." Whitepaw was surprised to hear this.

The warrior continued. "You were brave enough to come up to one of the clans. I doubt a Twoleg would have done that, especially when you explained that they were like pretty much exactly like kittypets. And you weren't harsh to any one of us when you got here. I think StarClan knew what they were doing."

"Thank you. And I will be your friend." Whitepaw was hesitant about her decision, but knew it would be good to have a few friends here. Even though she liked to be alone, it is nice to have someone to talk to now and then.

Dawn was approaching, and the two she-cats were just sitting next to the lake relaxing and asking a question from time to time. One question surprised Whitepaw, but in an odd way.

Blossomfall tapped the surface of the water with her paw. "Did you ever like someone when you were a Twoleg? Did you have a mate?"

Whitepaw was a bit surprised from the question, but the she-cat just simply answered, "Nope."

Blossomfall questioned further. "Do you, or did you, like someone in ThunderClan?"

The apprentice stiffened. She hesitated how much to tell before responding. "Oh, well, uh...no." _Darn it._

Blossomfall looked at her suspiciously. "You didn't seem so sure. I won't tell anyone, I promise."

Whitepaw explained, but left out who it was. "It's not that. Well, when you're a Twoleg and you're able to fall slightly in love with someone, it could be anyone. And so if it were a cat from the books a Twoleg were to like, it could be any type of cat here. An ancestor, a kittypet, someone who already has a mate, or even a medicine cat."

"And what you're saying is...?"

Whitepaw nervously said, "I'm saying that I like one of those types of cats."

The warrior's eyes widened. "Wait, what? You mean you like one of those cats, someone you're are not supposed to fall in love with?"

"I didn't want to lie, so I just told you the type of cat he was. If anyone knew who he was I would be in huge trouble. Even though I didn't tell you the name, could you please not tell anyone?"

Blossomfall looked hesitant. After a while, she replied, "Yes. Yes, I will keep it a secret. If you can keep everyone's secret, then I should be expected to keep yours. No one will know." Whitepaw smiled, relieved. She was grateful someone was able to understand.

The sun was now up and the camp would probably be busy with cats by then. Blossomfall and Whitepaw decided to walk back to the gorge, along with a bit more questions.

"How many moons old are you? I'm just curious." asked Blossomfall.

Whitepaw thought for a moment. "I don't really know. I was 15 years old when I was a Twoleg. So in cat years, that would be...about eight moons old. I guess that sounds right."

"Cat years?"

"Oh, yeah. Since Twolegs live longer than most animals, they thought of a way to calculate how old a cat by using cat years. Cat years is sort of like aging one year in one moon. If a cat was one year old in reality, then they would be eighteen years old. It's more understandable if you saw a physical diagram." Blossomfall nodded in agreement.

Both she-cats were at the entrance of the camp when it was about an hour past dawn. They entered and departed to go along with they're duties.

Whitepaw had so far enjoyed life as a ThunderClan apprentice. She was in a magical world, no school, no parents to tell her what to do, no kids from school, and StarClan. It was a life she was going to enjoy.

* * *

After her chat with Blossomfall, Whitepaw had taken a short nap in the apprentice den before waking up. She went out and tried to find her mentor when she spotted Jayfeather near the medicine cat den.

She didn't want to encourage herself to fall even more in love with him, but a crush can never be stopped. So right then, she couldn't help but pad over to him. She waited behind him to notice her, but then remembering that he was blind.

Nervously, she asked, "Er...Jayfeather?"

The medicine cat pricked his ears up and turned his head to face her. "Oh, it's you." he said, bitterly. "What is it?"

_How the heck do I say this_? She forced herself to ask, "By any chance...do you want or need any help with gathering herbs?" _That sounds like the most stupidest line ever._

Jayfeather looked at her uninterestedly. "No, I'm fine." He turned around and walked into the den.

_It was worth a shot._ She went on to finding Millie, who was near the fresh-kill pile. They met up and exited camp to head for the mossy clearing to practice battle moves. Whitepaw was learning a new one called the 'claw roll'. Millie promised to teach it the next time they trained.

They met in the center of the clearing, facing each other. Millie started the lesson. "To do this, you need to focus on aim. I will demonstrate the claw roll. Look closely."

The silver cat rolled over to one side, stretching her left unsheathed paw out when she turned over to scratch an imaginary enemy. She landed by crouching down on all four paws and stood up.

"It's not too difficult. You just have to be quick, while knowing where your enemy has moved to." Millie moved back a few paw-steps. "You may now try it."

Whitepaw stood for a few seconds before copying the move. She rolled over and stretched her paw as far out as possible when she was turned over, and then crouched on her paws to land. She stood up and Millie nodded in approval.

"Good job. Now, let us keep going."

**I was off by two moons. TWO MOONS! I'm just going to pretend that the Great Battle was in June and not August. So, I'm back in school, aka FrustrationLand instead. I GOT HOMEWORK ON THE FIRST DAY. I'm in 8th grade, but what the heck!? I feel like I barely have any time now. **

**On a side note, I may go back in chapters and change a couple things since I'm making this story as accurate as possible.**

** Well, That's pretty much it for now. Bye!**

***Update* I fixed the time of when the Great Battle ended. Now instead of it being June in the story, it's August, since it was spring in Bramblestar's Storm. That is all.**

**And I changed my mind about making this story accurate with the canon plot.**


	5. Chapter 5

A few days past, with the new tension still going around, and cats began to meow about the upcoming gathering that night. Whitepaw wouldn't have minded if she couldn't go; she would have a bit of peace and quiet in the apprentices den if Molepaw and Cherrypaw went.

Not only the gathering was on the Twoleg's mind, but the thought of Jayfeather hadn't left her. She of course knew she could never be with him, but she couldn't help with glancing at him now and then. She didn't even know why she liked him, some of the cats think he's a bit rude and pushy.

It was nearly dawn and Whitepaw is lying in her usual spot near the lake. Everything was normal, but rain had started to come during the night. No other cats had come across the border, nor have patrols come by anything suspicious. It was a bit peaceful, though training had been tougher as she went. But, it beats having to study for a test or do seven homework assignments.

She became bored and stood up. She padded away from the lake and past the Sky Oak to the forest. It was dawn and rays of orange and blue stretched across the sky. Raindrops fell from the branches in the trees and either fell on the moist ground or into Whitepaw's pelt. Each paw step was soft, along with every breathe being a slight chill.

Whitepaw began to go through her memory to find songs she would like to listen to. She eventually found one and started to hum the song, "Once Upon a Dream", the one sung by Emily Osment. It used to get stuck in her head when she saw those Disney commercials.

She wandered a bit more and found herself back at camp where some cats were padding the area. Whitepaw entered to try to find Blossomfall to chat, still humming the song. The dappled she-cat had just walked out of the warriors den, looking happy and energized.

Whitepaw went towards her, stopping her humming to greet her. "Hi Blossomfall."

The warrior returned the greeting. "Hello." They both padded to a spot in the hollow and sat down. They started to chat about the oncoming gathering. "Do you think Bramblestar will let me go to the gathering?" asked Whitepaw.

Blossomfall thought for a moment before answering. "I don't know. You've only been here for a quarter moon, and StarClan knows what the cats will think of you. I wouldn't get your hopes up."

Whitepaw agreed. "You're right. But it would be exciting to see the other clans and hear what they have to say other than imagining it."

Blossomfall nodded. Right after, Graystripe came over to the two friends. He meowed to his daughter, "Morning, Blossomfall." He looked over to Whitepaw, then back to Blossomfall. "I see that you've made a new friend. That's very kind of you." He then padded to the fresh-kill pile.

Seeing Graystripe reminded Whitepaw of Briarlight. She asked Blossomfall, "Out of curiosity, is Briarlight doing well? With her hind legs and all..."

"Yes, she is fine. Jayfeather made her excercises a bit tougher, but she handles them quite alright." Blossomfall stood on all fours. "I'm going to join the dawn patrol. Do you want to come with me, or are you still thinking on it?"

The apprentice was hesitant, but thought why not. "Sure, I'll come." She then followed the warrior to a group of three cats. They were Berrynose, Toadstep, and Ivypool.

Blossomfall padded to them, announcing, "Whitepaw will join the patrol. I'll be showing her what to do."

The three cats looked skeptical. Berrynose said, "What makes you think we agree? She's not going on a dawn patrol."

While Ivypool was hesitating, Toadstep glared at Berrynose. The black and white cat stepped in to say, "What he meant to say is that maybe she should have a bit more practice before going on a patrol. She's only been here for a quarter moon."

When Blossomfall looked to be either agreeing or arguing with them, Ivypool commented, "We should give her a chance. She has to go on a patrol sometime, and it's not that difficult to attend one."

Berrynose argued, "But she's a..." A look from Toadstep quieted him down. Berrynose flicked his tail in annoyance.

Toadstep gave in. "Alright. Let's see if she can keep up." They all began to walk out into the forest towards the direction of the WindClan border. No one spoke during the walk.

After a while, Ivypool neared to Whitepaw and whispered, "Your welcome."

Whitepaw whispered back, "You know you didn't have to do that."

The warrior let out a sigh. "I know. But I think everyone deserves a chance. But keep in mind that I won't be doing it again." She said no more and moved away from the Twoleg.

Whitepaw wondered why she would say that, until she realized it had to do with Ivypool being a part of the dark forest. The she-cat must have felt the need to defend the new warrior since it partially had to do with loyalty and trust; two things Ivypool might have had trouble after all.

They reached the WindClan border, splitting up among the stretch of grass. Whitepaw looked closer, noticing small blood stains and clumps of grass ripped out in random places. She thought, _Oh duh, the battle. I've must have been so distracted and overwhelmed the last time I was here, that I didn't notice. _

Toadstep gave directions. "Whitepaw and Berrynose, you two scent the area. Blossomfall, Ivypool, and I will place scent markers." Each cat carried out their orders.

Whitepaw padded to a clumps of plants and sniffed around. Nothing was strange, only a mouse or small animal had been there. She turned around and was nose to nose with Berrynose. She backed away, apologized, and tried to go around him when the cream colored cat stopped her with his tail.

"What are you doing?" Whitepaw inquired. Berrynose sent a suspicious glare at the white apprentice.

The warrior flicked his tail. "You shouldn't be here, and you know that. You think you can just walk in and become an apprentice. I don't even have the slightest clue why Bramblestar chose to let you stay. What a load of mousedung!" he sneered.

Whitepaw sighed in annoyance with a slight of realization. "Yeah, yeah, yeah. You're either scared that a Twoleg with all knowledge came in the clan, or you're angry you have to live with a Twoleg and you're uncomfortable with me for some odd reason." If there's one thing she's good at, it's being able to be logical in situations like this.

Berrynose narrowed his eyes, having surprise and annoyance in them. "Don't be so clever, Twoleg. I'll be watching you." He left and went to the other side of the area.

Whitepaw didn't bother to dwell on the thought, and kept looking. She kept on going until Toadstep had called to everyone to head back. She followed the rest back to camp.

On the way Blossomfall came over to the apprentice. "This wasn't that bad, was it? I still don't understand why you're so afraid to be on a border patrol."

Whitepaw did her best to explain why. "I certainly don't want to lead one, but I know I don't have to. And the other thing, well, uh..." She trailed off, reluctant to say her last reason.

"What? Why can't you explain it? Is it because you don't want to run into another clan?"

"Not at all. It's, well. This is so embarrassing to say but..." She quickly said, "I don't exactly feel comfortable marking the border." Her fur heated with embarrassment from just saying it. She was extremely happy these cats wouldn't understand how it's weird for Twolegs.

Blossomfall looked surprised. "That's all? Why was it so hard for you to say that?"

"For Twolegs, it's different and that's all I'm saying. That's pretty much why I wouldn't want to go on border patrols much." She added, "And no, it's not because I don't know how to."

"It's alright. But if the border patrol leader asks you to do it, you should do it."

"Yeah, probably." Whitepaw let out a sigh. She was glad she explained it to someone than to just keep quiet. It had been weird enough to use the dirtplace; she practically had to persuade herself to just deal with it. Now, if only she could just go on as little border patrols as possible. But she knew that would only happen in her mind.

The five cats arrived back at camp and scattered among the area. Whitepaw headed to the apprentice den to rest. She entered, expected to see the two younger cats, but no one was there. The she-cat crept into her nest and laid down, curling her tail over her nose. She closed her eyes and fell asleep.

It wasn't long until she woke again. Something felt like it was climbing her fur. Drowsy, she opened her eyes slightly and looked behind her. It was gone. Once she turned her head back around, a yowl escaped her mouth. Right in front of her was a large, brown-haired tarantula.

She ran to corner and stayed there, watching and hoping the spider wouldn't go in her direction. Dovewing and Rosepetal came in and looked over to Whitepaw.

Dovewing asked, "What happened? You scared the whole clan!"

_I can't believe I forgot spiders were here! If only I wasn't afraid of them._ Whitepaw answered, "Sp-sp-spid-der."

Dovewing scanned the area and found the spider near Whitepaw's nest. It was in the exact same spot it was before Whitepaw freaked out. Dovewing sighed. "You yowled just because you got spooked by a bug?"

Whitepaw nodded. Rosepetal commented, "If this was all, then why do you look as if a snake had came in and were about to bite you?"

In a high, scared voice, she replied, "There's something called Arachnophobia, which is an extreme fear of spiders, and I have that."

Rosepetal and Dovewing exchanged looks. Dovewing said, "Would you feel better if I got rid of the spider?" Whitepaw nodded. The gray warrior took her paw and slashed the tarantula across its back, killing it. Dovewing carried it in her jaws and went away. Rosepetal came over to Whitepaw and put her tail on the apprentice's shoulder.

"I'll take you to Leafpool." The two she-cats got up and padded out of the den; Whitepaw kept glancing around, paranoid that spiders would pop out of somewhere.

They reached the medicine cat den and Whitepaw spotted Leafpool and Jayfeather inside. Leafpool saw Whitepaw and questioned her. "What happened?"

Rosepetal answered instead. "She saw a spider. She says she has this thing that makes her be afraid of spiders."

Jayfeather's ears pricked and he came over to them. "Did I hear that correctly? Did you just say that she yowled because of a spider?" He turned to Whitepaw. "You're joking, right?"

"Jayfeather, whether or not it was serious, she's still not okay. Do you mind getting her a few poppy seeds?" asked Leafpool. Jayfeather swished his tail and obeyed.

A few moments later, the blind cat came back with a lifted paw carrying poppy seeds. He stood next to Whitepaw and said, "Lick."

She licked the poppy seeds from his paw and swallowed them. Leafpool then asked, "Did you get bitten? How big was it?"

Whitepaw answered, "No, and it was the size of a newborn kit." She added, "And I think it was crawling on me at one point." She shivered at the thought.

The light brown cat checked Whitepaw's fur. She said, "Nothing unusual. You're fine, just rest."

Whitepaw left the den and padded across the clearing. Blossomfall suddenly came out of a crowd of cats and padded towards the apprentice. She asked, "What happened? Did you have a bad dream?"

"I saw a spider." Whitepaw realized how weird that sounded. Blossomfall looked unconvinced; Whitepaw explained. "I have a large fear of spiders, which is why a yowled."

"That was it?"

"Yep. Well, I'm going to go rest." Whitepaw padded away from Blossomfall to the apprentice den. This time she saw Molepaw and Cherrypaw in there poking around Whitepaw's nest.

Whitepaw asked, "What are you doing?"

Molepaw answered without looking up. "We heard you found a spider and are looking around your nest for any others."

_Thanks for saying that_, Whitepaw thought, disturbed. "Why would you be doing that?"

"We like to look around for them. They're kind of cool."

"Well, I was given poppy seeds, so I need to rest." She walked to her nest, the two apprentices going to their own.

The three settled in their nests, Whitepaw crept into hers while being nervous she might find another spider. When she was about to take another nap, she heard Cherrypaw's voice.

"Could you tell us a story?"

Whitepaw lifted her head to look at the apprentice. "Why now?"

Cherrypaw responded, "Well, I know its not night but I just want to know what kind of stories Twolegs made up."

Though she was supposed to rest, Whitepaw decided to tell one until she fell asleep. She tried to remember a story that would be both appropriate and understandable to say. She went through the Disney section in her mind, since some of those were her favorites. She remembered the story, or movie, 'Beauty and the Beast'. She figured it would be the easiest to explain.

"I've got one." Molepaw and Cherrypaw moved into nests closer to Whitepaw. The Twoleg apprentice began. "I'll put it in a way you'll understand." The two listening cats nodded understandingly. "Once there was a group in the mountain ruled by two leaders and their son. The son, his name not mentioned, was selfish. One day an old she-cat came and asked for shelter. In exchange for the shelter, she would grant him one rose."

"A rose? Why?" asked Cherrypaw.

"It was supposed to be a test to see if the prince was able to love." she continued. "But since he barely had any, he didn't let her stay. The next time she asked, he still said no. The old cat turned into a beautiful, and young silver she-cat. The cat tried to change her mind and to ask for her forgiveness. The cat said that if he was a monster on the inside, then he should be one on the outside. So, she turned him into a fox."

Molepaw listened in astonishment. "A fox? What happened?"

"The rest of the group changed too, like turning the other cats into prey. The fox was told by the sliver cat that if he wanted to turn back, he would have to learn to love. The curse would be permanent when the rose's petals fell off. After the she-cat left, the fox blocked all the exits of the area and hid in his den. He felt ashamed about his decision and himself ever since.

"After many years, a cream she-cat named Belle had run into the forbidden area looking for her father who was on a journey. She went inside the castle and followed the prey to where her father was being held captive by the fox. Belle said she would take her father's place and be the prisoner instead. After her father was taken away, she had realized that she was speaking to a fox.

"The fox had thought that she was the one to break the curse. So he gave her a den to sleep in and tried to get her to eat with him every night. After about a quarter moon of that, she tried to get to know the fox."

"Wait," said Molepaw, "Why would she want to get to know him? And doesn't she want to leave?"

"Well, in the normal version Belle couldn't defend herself against him, and if she's going to stay there she wanted to make the best of it. To continue, she tried to teach him to be cat-like again. After a moon, the fox and Belle started to have feelings for each other, but Belle didn't know if her feelings were true. One night, they had a romantic walk around the area. At midnight, the fox showed her a magic pool of water that let her see what ever she wants. She asked to see her father, and she saw him being thrown out of his group."

"Why?" asked Cherrypaw.

Whitepaw thought for a second, since she had to explain it without saying 'asylum'. "Well, he was begging the cats in the group to help get his daughter back, and none of them believed him and called him insane."

She continued. "Anyway," she yawned. The poppy seed must have been getting to her. "The fox did fall in love with Belle and let her go. Belle left to defend her father. When she got back to her group and tried to say that her father was telling the truth, a large, black cat named Gaston believed her, but wouldn't listen to her that the fox was kind. Gaston led the cats to the fox's land to kill the fox.

"After a short battle where the prey outsmart the cats, don't ask how, Gaston had wounded the fox, but was dangling from a ledge of that mountain. Gaston fell to his death and Belle came to the fox. The fox was about to die when Belle said, 'I love you'. It breaks the curse and the fox became a cat again."

She yawned again, and rested her head on the edge of the moss. Her eyes got heavier as she went on. "Belle and the cat became mates, and the rest of the prey that was there became cats again. And they lived happily...ever...after..." She trailed off, drifting into sleep.

III

Whitepaw woke up to an empty cave. Sound echoed in from the outside chatter. Not remembering the incident from before she fell asleep, the apprentice drowsily crawled out of her nest. She walked outside and felt heat on her pelt. It was past sunhigh, in which she was late for her training.

After the realization, Whitepaw half-dashed through the camp to the thorn barrier. When about to pass the camp entrance to head to the mossy hollow, Blossomfall stopped her.

Blossomfall blocked the apprentice's path. "It's okay," she said with a reassuring look. "I told Millie that you were said by Leafpool to rest. She said you can make up the practice tomorrow."

Whitepaw sighed with relief. "Thanks."

They both padded back into camp, and then went toward the fresh-kill pile. Blossomfall took a mouse while Whitepaw took a squirrel. They began eating once they found an empty spot in the clearing.

Whitepaw brought up the gathering again. "So, when will Bramblestar decide on who goes to the gathering?"

"We usually leave when we're able to see the moon. Then Bramblestar announces who gets to go and he gets all the cats into a patrol." Blossomfall took a bite from the prey.

Whitepaw asked, "And what do you think the other clans will announce?"

Blossomfall shrugged. "I can't say." She changed the subject. "So, do you do anything like the gathering in your Twoleg world? Any traditional celebrations?"

Whitepaw thought for a moment. "Yes, actually. There are such things as holidays. One of the holidays is Christmas, it's when Santa Claus comes to..." She stopped when she noticed Blossomfall looking at her oddly.

Blossomfall was about to ask her questions when Whitepaw predicted it. "A holiday is a day to celebrate something big and Santa Claus is the Christmas person who goes into your house at night and leaves you gifts." she added, "And Christmas is a holiday in leaf-bare."

Blossomfall nodded understandingly. "Oh." She widened her eyes in a seemingly realization. "Wait, what? Someone sneaks into your den at night? And why gifts? And a house is a den, right?"

"Yes. And yeah, some Twolegs see it as a scary thing for someone to come into your den; but it's not. Christmas is suppose to be a family thing where you see your family and have a feast and have a tree decorated..." She trailed off as she remembered the elements and activities of the holiday. "It's all just wonderful! If only you could experience it."

The warrior didn't look convinced. "It sounds great, but it doesn't sound cat-like. And why would you 'decorate' a tree?"

"It's one of the customs."

"Alright." They ended the conversation and continued eating.

The day went by slowly since Whitepaw had nothing to do. She laid in her nest and waited for the night fall so she could see if she could attend the gathering. One of the things she would definitely miss would be all the entertainment at her house. And all she can do here is talk, roam the forest, train, and sleep. But she honestly had to say it was still better than a human life.

The sun has finally gone away and the moon was replacing its position. StarClan is shown in the sky and no clouds were blocking them or the moon. Bramblestar would be definitely leading the cats to the gathering island soon.

Whitepaw was about to doze off when she heard Bramblestar shouting something out. Immediatly, the white cat scrambled out of her nest and peeked out of the apprentice den. Bramblestar was calling the cats who were going to the gathering.

Whitepaw pricked her ears to listen to the call. "...attending will be Berrynose, Mousewhisker, Icecloud, Purdy, Birchfall..." The list didn't go on that long, even though many names were told.

The final names said were, "...Brackenfur, Toadstep, and..." There was a pause. Bramblestar looked to be thinking on the last unknown name. He sighed and said, "and Whitepaw."

Whitepaw flinched with both surprise and shock. She had left her hopes of going, letting her half hope she would be at the next gathering. Bramblestar must have been thinking too much on what he should choose for decisions like these. Whitepaw waited, expecting Bramblestar to say she couldn't go, but no other message was said.

Almost every cat looked at the lastly said cat with uncertain eyes. Whitepaw would have partially expected them to, but felt even more uncomfortable than usual. Bramblestar didn't make any eye contact with anyone as he waved his tail to beckon all that would be going to the gathering.

Whitepaw crept out of the apprentice den entrance to the following cats. She slowly walked beside the crowd until she was at the back of it. She was about a tail length from the second to last cat in the crowd; she wanted space from the others until she reached the island.

Blossomfall, who had been chosen too, was seen standing ahead. The warrior began walking when she was next to Whitepaw.

Expecting to hear about the cats not approving Whitepaw at the gathering, Whitepaw instead was told by Blossomfall, "What in StarClan's name is Bramblestar thinking? I would have never expected him to do this."

Whitepaw hated saying this, but she didn't want to lie about wanting to have a conversation. "Blossomfall, would you mind leaving me alone for the night? I just want to be by myself for a while, okay?" Whitepaw hoped she didn't sound harsh.

Blossomfall nodded. "That's okay. See you tomorrow then?"

"Sure."

Blossomfall departed from the apprentice and caught up with the crowd. Whitepaw let out a stressed sigh. Though being alone was said to be bad, it let Whitepaw calm down and get back her happy feeling. Though without funny videos or games it would be a bit tougher. Her imagination would be the only happy place she could be in right now.

She then remembered something she did in school once. Her class once went outside into the grass field to take notes on what you would hear, smell, feel, and see. Whitepaw found it relaxing, if the other students hadn't of been talking to each other. Besides the other kids conversations in the way, it was like a moment of peace.

Whitepaw decided to try that again, since being in the night would be most relaxing and peaceful. She couldn't close her eyes to focus on the sounds more, so she gazed around to try to notice the forest's details.

The moonlight was casting spotlights through the tree branches and dotting the ground with blue light. Far away crickets were heard and their melody sounded clear. Whitepaw felt a cool gentle wind flow past her into the trees. Rustles in the plants were occasional but nothing would come out of it.

Up in the sky, the moon was working its way to the top along with the stars following it. Seeing the stars reminded Whitepaw of StarClan. She wondered what StarClan thought of Bramblestar's decision. She pushed the thought away to continue admiring the nature around here.

She looked around to notice she and the group had gotten out of the forest. The WindClan border was a bit far ahead; the stream flowing down the hillside as usual. Whitepaw tried to get back to her relaxed state, but couldn't. She gave up once her mind began filling with thoughts and questions about the gathering and Bramblestar's decision.

They reached the border, but went down beside it to reach the lake. The stars reflected brighter in the lake's water, sending sparkles to gleam on the water's surface. The group met with the lake's edge and went alongside it. Now within the few tail lengths, they marched on.

The cats got to the other side of WindClan territory and passed the border. The Twoleg den was seen, but no activity, except for a light on inside the building. They quickly passed it and continued onward to the tree-bridge. It was bigger than Whitepaw imagined, but it would of course be big since she was a cat.

One by one, each cat jumped onto the tree and walked across it. When it was Whitepaw's turn, she unsheathed her claws and jumped onto it. She wobbled for a few seconds before planting her claws in for support. She put a paw after one another very slowly, and with each paw step she felt more anxious. In the middle of the tree she almost slipped, her stomach churning, but got back onto the center.

She finally reached the end and carefully landed onto the island. She trotted across the sandy ground to the tall trees. She entered between two bushes and carefully wandered straight ahead. She kept going, and started to hear cats talking. She went toward the noise and found an opening. She looked past it and found herself looking at the clearing where the gathering held.

She hadn't seen so many cats in her life, or scented so many in that matter. Up ahead, she saw three figures sitting on low branches of a large tree, and three others on its roots. Whitepaw recognized it as the Great Oak. The clearing was grassy with several sand piles. StarClan and the moon were seen clearly in the sky.

Whitepaw came out into the clearing and began to find a place to settle for the gathering.

**Quite a lot of randomness here, but I wanted to write a few things.**

**Whitepaw was able to go to the gathering? I know it seems a little unrealistic, but Bramblestar is having a bit of a hard time wondering what to do in situations like this. And so I'm making that my reason. **

**Well, Halloween is coming in a month and something may be coming...or not. Idk. Well something may be coming...on my YouTube channel. Yes I have one. I don't like advertising anything, but...**

**My channel is called The Imaginator7. Check it if you want, but I don't have any Warriors cats stuff on it, only Let's Plays and Webkinz stuff. I might do Warriors speedpaints some day.**

**Well that's it for now. See you later.**


	6. Chapter 6

Whitepaw padded through the sea of cats. Many cats glanced over at her, making strange looks on their faces. Whitepaw ignored them and tried to navigate her way to where the apprentices would be, or at least a quiet spot instead if she couldn't find them.

Whitepaw had never been in anything more lively than this. It felt odd to be roaming around the other clans, not having any experience of doing it many times. The toughest thing is that she couldn't tell how to navigate where ThunderClan was using scent, since there were many of them.

After walking around, she finally saw Molepaw and Cherrypaw talking to a few other apprentices. Whitepaw went towards them. When she reached them, the other cats, three of them, turned around. Whitepaw walked around the other clan cats to her friends.

Molepaw smiled, and Cherrypaw scooted over so Whitepaw could join the circle. The other clan cats just looked at her strangly.

One of them, a ginger tom, asked, "Who are you? Shouldn't you be with the warriors?"

Whitepaw said, "I may look like a warrior, but I'm an apprentice. I was..." Whitepaw tried to think of a story about how she came to the clans. "...taken in by ThunderClan."

"Taken in?" The ShadowClan tom narrowed his eyes at Whitepaw, making her feel a bit uneasy.

"Yeah. Because..." Whitepaw couldn't think of a story.

Molepaw continued for her. "A patrol found her near the border. After a little mix up with a few things, she became an apprentice. Her new name is Whitepaw."

Another cat, a brown she-cat, commented, "ThunderClan took in _another_ outsider? Soon enough, that clan will be everything but clan blood!"

Whitepaw sidetracked the conversation and thought about that for a few moments. _Well, according to a wiki page, there are many cats who are mixed. So I don't really think it matters anymore, _thought Whitepaw. She didn't say it out loud, though._  
_

The ginger tom said, "Whatever. We might as well introduce ourselves. My name is Stoatpaw, an apprentice of ShadowClan!" The young cat puffed his chest out with pride, as if his clan was the best. Whitepaw made a small _mrrow_ of laughter at the apprentice's introduction.

The brown cat introduced herself next. "I'm Larkpaw, an apprentice of WindClan. He," she pointed at the last apprentice, another ginger tom, with her tail. "is Crouchpaw, another WindClan apprentice."

Crouchpaw smiled, looking friendly. "I hope the clans are a good home to you."

Whitepaw smiled back. She heard a yowl coming from a above; she turning her head to look at its source. Blackstar was the one who did it; it was seemingly done to start the gathering. Whitepaw saw that four leaders and deputies looked to be staring down at the crowd from the Great Oak, ready to begin the event. The leaders were perched on branches, while the deputies were sitting below them on the roots of the tree.

Blackstar said, "It is time for the gathering to begin. Bramblestar, you may start." The black and white leader stepped back on his branch to let Bramblestar be seen. The ThunderClan leader stepped forward, looking confident.

"It has been three quarters of a moon since the Great Battle. We all came together to defeat the Dark Forest, and we succeeded. I thank all of the clans, and every cat, for joining the battle, even the ones we are no longer with.

"Those who have died in the battle will never be forgotten. They risked their own lives for each clan; they died with honor. Even though they hunt in StarClan, they watch upon us and are there to help us, just as they had done in the battle. I also thank StarClan, the Ancient cats, and Midnight for being there alongside us."

Onestar, Blackstar, and Mistystar dipped their heads, seeming to appreciate the speech.

Mistystar said, "I too honor everyone associated with the battle, dead or alive."

Blackstar agreed. "So do I."

Onestar nodded in agreement.

Bramblestar went on to his ThunderClan report. "ThunderClan has been coping well with camp repairs and the healing of wounds. Prey is able to be found, although not easily. Parts of our territory will need to grow back from the fights from the battle, but we can still survive without them for now."

Bramblestar shifted, looking uneasy about his last report. "I have one more announcement: ThunderClan has a new apprentice. Over a quarter moon ago, we found a loner near the border. After a bit of questioning her arrival and testing her skills, we let her stay."

The clan cats began to whisper to each other, some being angry, and others being surprised. Whitepaw saw that Molepaw and Cherrypaw made no effort to think that it was a big deal. The other apprentices near Whitepaw were sending quick glares at her, except Crouchpaw, who kept looking over to the leaders.

Before Bramblestar could go on, Blackstar interrupted him rudely. "Another stray? I thought ThunderClan had finished bringing them in."

Onestar meowed, "Yes, why did you invite her to stay in ThunderClan?"

Bramblestar answered hesitantly. "She said wherever she went, she was always banished or chased out." Whitepaw hoped the other leaders wouldn't get too angry.

Blackstar flicked his tail, annoyed, and argued with what the leader said. "Then why didn't _you_ chase her out? ThunderClan can't keep accepting kittypets and loners. Firestar is gone, you can do what you want now."

Mistystar cut in. "Be careful what you say, Blackstar! It hadn't been long since the battle and we can't be having any tension right now." She added, partially whispering, "StarClan might get angry."

This quieted the toms down. Whitepaw looked up at the moon, but it was still as clear as ever. After a bit of silence, and glances at the moon, Bramblestar said the last part of his report. "She is now an apprentice of ThunderClan. Her name is Whitepaw."

No one cheered, not even ThunderClan. Bramblestar stepped back to let another leader tell their report. Whitepaw noticed that her leader didn't mention the Tigerheart incident.

Onestar stepped forward. "WindClan is doing fine. Rabbits have abandoned their holes, and are scarcely found. Our camp is still in need of rebuilding, especially the nursery. Our kits and queens were moved but they are safe. Lastly, we found an odd scent we do not recognize near the ThunderClan border. But we did not do anything since we couldn't figure out the scent. We passed it off as a loner or kittypet.

Whitepaw realized it was her. _Oops. I must have not realized I was standing on WindClan territory. _Onestar didn't mention her, or anything else. He backed away, and Blackstar stepped forward.

The ShadowClan leader stood confidently while sharing news. "ShadowClan has been doing well, but most of our prey has gone as well. Our camp is nearly fixed with the help of all of ShadowClans clanmates." He became more serious as he went on to the next subject. "One thing I must mention is something involving a ShadowClan cat and border crossing. After a...misunderstanding, he ran across the border into ThunderClan territory. I will not be giving any more information due to his requests."

Whitepaw figured that at least ShadowClan would mention the incident. She didn't think about it anymore when Blackstar moved on. "I wish to say one last thing: I would like to name off all of the cats who have died during the Great Battle, to honor them further."

The other three leaders looked hesitant, but they all gave nods. Blackstar began to read off an incredibly long list of cats who have died in the battle. Whitepaw had to sit there for about three minutes before Blackstar said the last cat. Finally, Mistystar came forward to say her report.

"Thank you, Blackstar." She dipped her head to the ShadowClan leader, and then turned back to the crowd. "RiverClan has been able to get prey, but the camp has also been a disaster. Luckily, the resources needed to rebuild the camp were able to be found quickly. That is all."

As soon as Mistystar finished, the other leaders came down with the RiverClan leader following. The crowd of cats began to break apart. Each leader called out to their clanmates, and Whitepaw went to her leader.

Whitepaw followed Bramblestar and her clanmates to the tree-bridge, each crossing one at a time. Whitepaw crossed it last and caught up with her clan. She and ThunderClan crossed the WindClan territory silently. As they went on, Whitepaw began to feel exhausted as they reached their own territory.

By the time they got to the camp, Whitepaw was practically asleep on her paws. Eyes half closed, she slowly padded to the apprentices den and collapsed in her nest. She was not used to staying up at midnight, so sleep came to her within moments.

When Whitepaw woke up the next day it was raining; you couldn't even tell if it was dawn or not. Her eyes opened, staring at the den entrance. Raindrops splattered on the rock floor of the gorge heavily, creating a sound loud as loud as a rushing river.

Cold air was creeping into the den and Whitepaw shivered. She shifted deeper into her moss bed and tried to get back to sleep, since she and the clan couldn't do anything at the moment.

Whitepaw ended up laying there again. She stood up in her bed and stretched. She didn't really know what to do at the moment, because her only options were to daydream, talk to the apprentices, or lay down and watch the rain. She couldn't think of anything to think about, nor did she want to wake up her denmates. So, she just laid back down and watched the rain.

Her mind did eventually drift and she began to go over the gathering in her head. The ShadowClan announcement about Tigerheart was slightly surprising and Whitepaw didn't really know why Blackstar decided to mention it. The WindClan scent news wasnt exactly much, but it just reminded Whitepaw to be careful where she puts her paws. Mistystar didn't say anything that caught her attention, and Bramblestar had obvious news too, except for the small Great Battle speech.

The most strangest thing that happened in the gathering was that Blackstar wanted to name off the cats who had died during the battle. _He must have wanted to do that to show special appreciation to them. But it won't be a problem, I don't think, _thought Whitepaw.

The white apprentice heard shuffling at the other end of the den, but then realized it was just the other apprentices. Cherrypaw had woken up, sitting up in her nest. Her eyes slowly lifted open, looked around, and saw Whitepaw.

The ginger apprentice yawned, and sleepily meowed, "Is it morning?"

Whitepaw replied, "I think so, but it's raining."

Cherrypaw looked at the den entrance, looking at the rain outside for a few moments before saying, "Oh. Then I guess I can still sleep. If you're still awake by the time it stops raining completely, can you wake me for training?"

"Sure." After she answered, Cherrypaw laid back down.

Whitepaw turned her head to look outside again, but then saw something move outside. Through the raindrops, Whitepaw recognized Jayfeather. _He must have gone to check another den, _she thought.

The medicine cat ran through the rain, probably into another den. Whitepaw had tried so hard to forget her fictional crush before it got bigger, but it did anyway, since it was no longer fictional. StarClan knows if she's ever going to do anything to help her feelings or deny them.

She pushed the thought away, and stared outside again. She saw that the raining had eased off a tiny bit, turning into a light rain fall. She got up from her nest and padded to the entrance. The white apprentice peeked her head out, feeling the soft, faded rain hit her fur and face.

Guessing it would stop pouring soon, she walked out. Her fur got dampened, but she didn't mind. She looked around and saw no one, so she went across the clearing to get to the camp entrance. Her paws began to feel frozen within moments but she went on anyway. Her fur also began to go sleek as she went on. The only strange thing about going to the forest now was that she would be the only cat in the world willing to do it.

When she was about to exit camp, a voice called her back. "Whitepaw, what are you doing?" It was Blossomfall, who was peeking her head out from the warriors den.

Whitepaw turned to the tortoiseshell she-cat and replied, "Just going on a walk."

Blossomfall stated, "But it's still raining. You should be inside."

Whitepaw responded, sounding sure, "The raining looks to be stopping. If it pours again, I'll come back, okay?" Even though she looked unsure, Blossomfall nodded anyway and went back into the den.

Whitepaw went onwards into the forest. The rain did get lighter and lighter until it was just a small misty spray in the air. She began to smell prey rather than rain now, but there seemed to be only one scent trail. She decided to go after it, so she left the trail she was following to be guided by the scent.

Laying low, Whitepaw crept along the trail until she had entered an undergrowth. She continued on, skirting a few thorn bushes on the way.

The scent got stronger until she knew it was a few tail-lengths ahead, behind a patch of ferns. She took a few pawsteps before dropping into a hunters crouch. She crept toward the scent before she took another sniff of it. She stopped. It wasn't prey at all.

She looked over the patch of ferns and saw Jayfeather walking along a path. Whitepaw mentally scolded herself. _Why do I keep mistaking Jayfeather for prey? _She repeated the sentence in her head._ I mistake him for prey...that's just weird._ Whitepaw was about to leave right when she heard Jayfeather call to her.

Jayfeather said, "Whitepaw, is that you...again?"

Whitepaw froze, and nervously said, "Yeah. Um...I was looking for prey and accidentally scented you instead. I'll just go now..." She was about to turn when Jayfeather called her back.

"Wait." said Jayfeather.

Whitepaw's heart skipped a beat. "Ye-yeah?"

"I ran out of cobwebs from rewrapping the clan's wounds. Could you help me gather them, since your here?" His blind eyes stared at Whitepaw, making the apprentice feel odd.

_Spiders all over again..._, Whitepaw shook the horrifying memory away. _He's a blind medicine cat, I _have_ to help him. _Whitepaw replied, "Sure." The white apprentice gingerly padded over to gray tabby. She stood beside him, and he began to walk straight ahead with Whitepaw following.

Whitepaw couldn't help but think about how this was making her have a fuzzy feeling inside. Her stomach felt like it had butterflies in it, and she felt nervous being around him. She had ran into him a few times without feeling anything, but this was their first real interaction with each other.

The rain stopped, shining everything with raindrops. The sky was gray with a few rays of sunlight escaping. Cold air went through the fur of both cats as they walked through the forest.

Whitepaw just stayed quiet, and kept glancing up at Jayfeather a couple of times. On one of the times she did that, she just kept staring, as if she were captured in a dream-like trance. She snapped out of it, telling herself not to. Throughout that small silence, it didn't occur to her that he was still a medicine cat, someone who wasn't allowed to fall in love. But that still wouldn't stop Whitepaw from liking him if the fact ever came to her.

After walking for a bit, Jayfeather broke the silence. "For the last few times we've met, you've either given me a head ache or ran into me picking herbs. It's like your trying to stalk me."

_I wish it wasn't presented that way. _Whitepaw replied, "Well, I was distracted by my thoughts and was mistaking you for prey. So, no stalking."

"Good. I don't need anyone watching my every move." Whitepaw had the sense he was half joking, half annoyed by their accidental meetings. But she didn't care.

After a few seconds, Whitepaw asked, "So...were you out here when it was still raining?"

"Yes, I was." He didn't say anything more, creating an awkward silence.

They continued on until Jayfeather had led Whitepaw to an old birch tree, dampened by the rain. The medicine cat walked up to it and pulled up on of its sodden roots to reveal layers of cobwebs in a dark hole. Whitepaw shivered from the thought of spiders, but tried to ignore the thought as best she could.

Jayfeather explained, "This turns out to be the most easiest place to find cobwebs, since they rebuild over and over in here. Since you have your, uh, 'phobia' thing, I'll just dig them out myself. I don't want my ears to be blasted from your caterwauls."

Ignoring his last sentence, Whitepaw was relieved she wouldn't have to place her paws inside the hole. She replied, "Okay." She paced a few paw steps forward so she could be next to the hole when Jayfeather gathered the cobwebs.

Jayfeather unsheathed his right paw as he inserted it into the cobweb hole. He clawed out clumps of layered webs and placed them next to Whitepaw. The apprentice pawed at it nervously, but felt nothing odd about it. The pile got larger, but it stopped growing once Jayfeather began making a pile for himself. Whitepaw just watched the process silently.

When the medicine cat stopped clawing at the webs, he said, "Let's get back to camp."

Whitepaw couldn't help asking, "Wait. Do we carry the cobwebs in our mouths?"

Jayfeather looked at her as if she had two heads. "Yes. Do you have a problem with that?"

"No, it's just that cobwebs are kind of sticky and-"

Jayfeather cut her off. "Look, stop acting like a kit and just pick it up. I do it all the time and nothing horrible happened to me." He picked up his clump and walked past her, seeming irritated.

Whitepaw knew she deserved the harsh response after sounding liking a scaredy mouse over carrying webs. She carefully picked up the ball of webs with only her teeth, almost gagging. She then turned around to catch up with Jayfeather.

She reached him and followed right behind. They both quickly reached the camp, which had very few cats sitting out in the clearing. They both entered camp and walked over to the medicine den.

Whitepaw went in right after Jayfeather. Jayfeather padded into the medicine storage and placed the cobwebs onto a shelf. He came back and said, "You can place the cobwebs down. Then you may leave."

_Yes, captain_, Whitepaw thought jokingly. She placed the cobwebs down, feeling tiny bits of webs clinging to her teeth, but didn't bother messing with them.

For the sake of it, Whitepaw said, "Your welcome." Jayfeather said nothing back.

Whitepaw left the den afterwards. She then went around to try to find Blossomfall to chat. Eventually, the dappled she-cat was found in the warriors den, but was talking to another cat. The cat had gray fur with dark grey stripes. _Maybe...Bumblestripe? I can come back later, I don't want to interrupt the conversation._

Whitepaw backed away from the den, but when she turned around, she was face to face with Dovewing. The light gray she-cat had worried eyes. Whitepaw was confused, and even more confused as of why the warrior was looking at her._  
_

Dovewing said, "Can I talk to you for a moment?" Whitepaw nodded. Dovewing flicked her tail, beckoning Whitepaw to follow her. The two she-cats exited camp and into the forest.

Whitepaw wondered why she was being taken to a private conversation. She figured it could have been about the Tigerheart incident, since they used to be together. But if they weren't mates now, then why would Dovewing talk about it, or even _worry_ about the incident?

Dovewing stopped at the foot of a tree, and sat down in front of Whitepaw near the tree's roots. Whitepaw sat down, waiting for Dovewing to explain.

Dovewing let out a sigh. "I'm just too curious. A few nights ago when Tigerheart had crossed the border, was he looking for me?"

Whitepaw answered without any hesitation. "Yes. He said that if he couldn't be your mate anymore, he could at least be your friend." _I won't tell a lie about this. I shouldn't have a reason to._

Dovewing looked slightly shocked. She twitched her tail, looking to be thinking on what Whitepaw said.

Dovewing questioned the event further. "Why didn't you tell the clan? If you were telling the truth about knowing everything, then you should know its against the warrior code to not have a relationship outside of your clan."

Whitepaw could understand why she would ask that. "If I know everything, then I know what I should and shouldn't tell. ThunderClan can't know that you liked a ShadowClan cat, you'll be in trouble no doubt. Even if you were gifted by StarClan."

"But I deserved what ever punishment I would have gotten! I broke the warrior code!"

Whitepaw stayed calm, as if she were a StarClan cat telling a prophecy. "I think it would just be better if ThunderClan didn't know. You feeling guilty about your decision would be punishment enough, for my opinion. I just didn't want to get you in trouble, that's all."

Dovewing just stared at her. She said, "You don't have to protect me! I did something wrong and I should have gotten into trouble because of the dumb decision I made."

"Love couldn't have been ignored in that situation, you loved him too much. I don't want to see another cat get into trouble because he or she fell in love."

Dovewing didn't say anything. She just stared at the white apprentice.

Whitepaw sighed. "I just didn't want you to be at risk with your clan. But I just want you to know that your decision wasn't that bad. If it involves love, then love itself is the one to blame. Besides, it was Tigerheart's idea to have meetings, wasn't it?" The tension in the conversation seemed to be fading.

Dovewing slowly nodded. Whitepaw lastly said, "I just didn't want to get you in trouble," she repeated. "That is all."_ I could have said more things, but I needed to keep this talk calm and on the same topic._

Dovewing stood up calmly, and said, "So, you're going to keep my secret?" Whitepaw nodded. The warrior looked at her with glistening eyes. "Thank you. You're not what I expected, for a Twoleg. I'm happy someone understands." She walked past Whitepaw, leaving to go back to camp.

Whitepaw stayed, wondering what to do after that. Then she remembered Blossomfall. Whitepaw got up and headed back to camp, too.

III

Whitepaw had just arrived to camp, immediately looking for Blossomfall. The camp was filled with more cats since the rain had stopped a while ago. Whitepaw's friend was easily seen in the crowd of cats. She was eating a thrush a few tail-lengths from the apprentice den. Whitepaw trotted to her.

Before the apprentice reached her, she caught a small glimpse of Jayfeather. She then remembered what had happened earlier in the day. After looking back into the memory a bit, she began to feel that fuzzy feeling again. She made a small involuntary smile on her face as she went towards Blossomfall.

Blossomfall looked up, giving a friendly smile. Whitepaw laid down next to her friend and started talking, still smiling.

"So, did anything interesting happen to you this morning? Just curious." She sounded as if she was excited, but all she was doing was thinking about Jayfeather.

Blossomfall thought for a moment. "No, not really. Why?"

Whitepaw didn't know why, but she wanted to say what had happened when she accidentally met Jayfeather in the forest. "Oh, it's just...earlier today I accidentally ran into Jayfeather...again." She felt like a Twoleg all over again, talking about boys.

"Again? How many times did you do that?"

"I don't know, about four times. Anyway, after that he asked me to help him gather cobwebs. And so I did, but I ended up sounding like a kit after complaining about carrying a clump of cobwebs." All throughout the explanation, Whitepaw was still oblivous about her small smile she was making.

"It doesn't sound that bad."

"Yeah, I could have kept my mouth shut. Then we came back to camp, I gave him the cobwebs, and then that's it."

Blossomfall looked confused. "That was exciting, how?"

Whitepaw couldn't resist talking about how the small interaction made her so happy. The white she-cat hoped her friend wouldn't get suspicious. She then felt the smile she was making and immediately stopped.

"Er...I don't know, it was different for me? I don't know. I've been bored here for a while." _I think that was a pretty good excuse._

"Boring? I wouldn't say that exactly. You can hunt, walk in the forest, talk to others, see the kits-"

Whitepaw interrupted her. "But when I was a Twoleg, I had plenty more to do. Like play on my iPad, my phone, the computer, draw, watch TV, play with my dogs, sing-" She stopped herself, feeling her fur heat with embarrassment after she said the last thing. She was unaware that Blossomfall didn't know any of those things until she asked.

"Um...do you mind explaining?"

Whitepaw explained what an iPad, phone, computer, and TV was fairly quickly. "I can show you what drawing is later. And singing is like when birds making their singing noise, except Twolegs use words. I'm not very good at it, though."

Whitepaw lied about the singing part. She had stagefright whenever it came to singing an actual song, rather than a song from a play she once performed. She was afraid that if she said she was good at it, then Blossomfall might have had Whitepaw sing something.

Blossomfall's eyes widened suddenly. "Wait. You have dogs?"

"Yeah. Her name is Cinnamon. Don't ask me why though. She's just a small dog, who _doesn't_ attack cats, that lives with me and my family."

"Okay, good." Blossomfall seemed relieved by that. "Now, we kind of got sidetracked there. I want to get back to when you said you helped Jayfeather."

Whitepaw's blood ran cold. She couldn't get caught if Blossomfall questioned her too much. Whitepaw acted as if everything was normal. "Oh, yeah, sidetracked. What did you want to ask?"

Blossomfall pushed the thrush that had been sitting in front of her aside. "It sounded odd to me how you wanted to tell me about you helping the medicine cat. I know it was something a bit different for you to do, but you had a smile on your face while saying it."

Whitepaw realized she made it obvious she liked helping Jayfeather. She prayed to StarClan, if StarClan wanted to help her right now, that Blossomfall didn't seem too suspicious.

Blossomfall's eyes glittered with realization. _I'm dead_, thought Whitepaw, scared.

Blossomfall said, "Oh! Is it because you want to become a medicine cat?"

Whitepaw's was hit by a huge feeling of relief. She didn't have to lie. She argued with the accusation, though. "What? No! Two reasons: I don't want to be pressured by the entire clan to help save cats, and I said I liked someone! Of course I don't want to be a medicine cat."

Blossomfall stood on all fours, and so did Whitepaw. Blossomfall looked more confused than when she was told the event. "But why else would you like being with one of the medicine cats?"

_I am so happy she is oblivious that I like him_. "Because it was something different, and something new. And I was with one of the Three. The cat who was able to read minds and walk in other cats' dreams! Wouldn't you think a Twoleg would have liked to hang out with one of the Three? Twolegs like to hang out with others who are important and well known."

Blossomfall hesitated. She finally said, "Okay, your right. For a second thought, I would have said he was your crush. But that's crazy, right?"

Whitepaw froze again. She did her best to act normal. "Yeah, totally insane. He's too grumpy for me."

Blossomfall looked like she saw a Dark Forest cat. "I wasn't implying that it was a possibility. If you actually had feelings for him, you would be in huge trouble." She added, "But if he wasn't a medicine cat, then he wouldn't be right for you anyway, he's too moody for you." She began to pace away. "I have to be going, it's about sun-high."

Whitepaw looked up, and it was indeed almost sun-high. She watched Blossomfall leave, happy that she did. Whitepaw sighed deeply. She was impossibly close to having her secret revealed. Whitepaw didn't know what she would do if she couldn't help feeling happy whenever she was with Jayfeather.

Whitepaw walked to the apprentice den, thinking. She knew that Blossomfall didn't know Jayfeather deeply. That's why she thought he and Whitepaw didn't belong together. But Whitepaw had more in common with him than anyone thought.

She entered the apprentice den, which was empty. She walked to her nest, sat down, and thought on until she would have to go looking for Millie for training.

The white apprentice thought about what Blossomfall had said,..._if he wasn't a medicine cat..._

Whitepaw wished he was a warrior, but that would be one less reason to love him.

**Aaaaaaaaaand the love begins. I wonder if Whitepaw is going to collect herbs with Jayfeather more often. I also wonder if Jayfeather is ever going to hang out with her for real any time soon.**

**Oh! And thank you for reading, following, favoriting, and reviewing this story! It makes me happy!**

**So, yep. This was all I wanted to say. Bye!**


	7. Chapter 7

"Whitepaw, you will go against Cherrypaw. Molepaw, you may have your mentor go against you." commanded Millie.

Millie was pairing up the apprentices, along with Rosepetal, to begin a practice fight in the mossy hollow. Whitepaw was excited; she finally got to be able to fight, though she would need to control her excitement if she was going to leave without clawing fur off of Cherrypaw.

Foxleap and Millie were sitting together a few fox-lengths away from the two pairs of cats. Foxleap said, "The point of this activity is to pin your opponent down for as many as three heartbeats. Remember: no claws. You may begin."

Once Foxleap gave the signal, Whitepaw had sprung out at Cherrypaw. The young she-cat was quick as she hopped to the side. Whitepaw tried to spring again at the apprentice, but Cherrypaw rolled underneath Whitepaw, who was in the air long enough to allow that.

Heart beating, Whitepaw landed, and turned around quick enough to see Cherrypaw racing towards her. Whitepaw outstretched her fore paws right when Cherrypaw was about a mouse-length from her. This pushed the apprentice back, but all she did was roll away a bit. This gave Whitepaw enough time to run to her and try to pin her into the mossy ground.

Cherrypaw looked to be slowly getting up, making the impression to Whitepaw that she was a bit tired. That was a mistake. Cherrypaw lashed out a powerful paw swipe at Whitepaw's fore legs when the white apprentice was about to reach Cherrypaw; this made Whitepaw tumble onto the moss. Whitepaw was about to get up, a bit surprised from the move, when Cherrypaw launched herself forward. Whitepaw fell down again, with Cherrypaw standing on top of her.

After about three seconds, Cherrypaw let Whitepaw get up. Whitepaw meowed to the apprentice, "Er...good fighting?" she said, wondering if she was supposed to say that.

Cherrypaw smiled. "Thanks! You fight well, too!"

The ginger cat padded off to Foxleap and sat beside him. Whitepaw went over to the three and sat next to Millie. The four began to watch the other pair, who were still in their practice fight.

Rosepetal was charging at Molepaw, but the tom had pounced right before Rosepetal reached him. Molepaw had jumped high enough to land on Rosepetal's back, but the she-cat stood on her hind legs to make him slide off. The apprentice did slip off and landed on his back, his belly showing. Rosepetal turned around and laid her paws on top of Molepaw's chest so he couldn't get up. Molepaw struggled for a bit before laying limp, defeated.

Rosepetal let the apprentice get up, and then the warrior joined the others, Molepaw following behind. Millie ended the practice. "That's all for today. Tomorrow we will be doing a team excercise." Foxleap and Rosepetal nodded in agreement.

Molepaw, Millie, and Cherrypaw left the mossy hollow, leaving Foxleap, Rosepetal, and Whitepaw behind. Whitepaw was about to leave too right when she was called back by Foxleap. "Whitepaw, may we speak with you?"

Whitepaw nodded, wondering what they wanted to discuss. She walked over to the older cats, sat down, and waited for one of them to start.

Rosepetal began. "I know you enjoy telling Cherrypaw and Molepaw Twoleg things, and they like to hear about Twoleg things. But we can't have you doing that."

Whitepaw thought something like this would happen. She nodded before Foxleap or Rosepetal said anything more. "That's okay. I won't tell them anything else."

"That's all we need to hear." said Foxleap. The two warriors left the area afterwards. Whitepaw left after she knew no one else was there.

While she began to walk through the forest back to camp, she saw the Sky Oak. She gazed around it, stilling walking past. She recalled the conversation she had with Blossomfall from before, since it was one of the exciting things that happened there. But then she remembered the record branch.

At first she slowed her pace in realization that she might have lost it, but then she shrugged it off and kept walking. _It was broken. I could have kept it as a souvenir, but it's not like I could have taken it back to my house. But that would be cool_, she thought. It would be nice to have a remembrance from being there, but StarClan wouldn't have allowed it.

She returned back to camp, immediately seeing Bramblestar padding toward her. She sighed, thinking it was another 'talk'.

The tabby leader meowed, "It think it's time that your going on a patrol regularly. I'm placing you in the hunting patrol with Squirrelflight, Icecloud, and Thornclaw." He pointed his tail towards the three cats near the thorn barrier.

Whitepaw was wanting to go rest in the apprentices den, but she couldn't disobey her leader. She nodded reluctantly, and Bramblestar padded away. She walked to the group, seeing each of the cats in the patrol waiting for her, it seems. Once she reached the patrol, Squirrelflight waved her tail to give the signal to start. The other three cats followed her close behind. Whitepaw followed behind Icecloud.

They entered the forest quietly as Squirrelflight led them on. Whitepaw felt slightly dizzy from the fact she was placed onto the patrol merely a few minutes ago, making it quick to realize. But she shook the feeling off and followed the cats.

Whitepaw almost ran into Icecloud when the patrol halted. Whitepaw backed away and looked past the she-cat to see Squirrelflight give a command.

"Spread out among the area and meet back here when you have caught at least one piece of prey." All the cats, except Whitepaw, immediately moved away from each other and vanished past the trees.

Whitepaw padded out of the area too, heading in a random direction. She began to walk for a long while before catching a scent of some sort of prey. She followed along the trail, and hoped it wouldn't be a cat she would find again.

A few fox-lengths ahead was a brown and white rabbit digging in a hole. Whitepaw hadn't caught a rabbit before, but knew she wouldn't be able to catch it. She gave it a try anyway and dropped into a hunter's crouch, slowly sliding against the grass beneath her.

She made sure her tail was high enough not to drag, and that her paws didn't hit anything on the ground. She stayed as quiet as she could, and eventually stopped when she was close enough the rabbit. Whitepaw waited for only a second more before jumping towards the rabbit.

She ended up miscalculating the jump and missed the rabbit. The prey, alarmed, ran away from the she-cat. Whitepaw didn't bother chasing it, but was surprised to hear a faint whine, and then paw steps coming to her. Whitepaw stood there while Icecloud came into sight, carrying the now-dead rabbit in her jaws.

The warrior didn't say anything until she placed the rabbit in front of Whitepaw. "Here, I caught it for you before it ran off." That was all she said. After that, Icecloud just left. Whitepaw didn't think much of it as she took the rabbit and headed back to the clearing, if she could even find it.

She walked on until she was able to see Thornclaw sitting a few fox-lengths away in the clearing with a thrush laying next to him. When Whitepaw reached the clearing, she sat down about two tail-lengths from the brown cat and placed the rabbit onto the grass.

They didn't make any eye contact or speak throughout the time of waiting for the others. Whitepaw felt like it as eternity until Icecloud showed up. She was carrying a couple of mice in her jaws. She sat down close to Thornclaw, and then everything was silent again. Whitepaw and the others kept on waiting.

Squirrelflight made an appearance while carrying a vole. She flicked her tail, beckoning the three others to follow, as she went off back to camp.

When they all arrived, Whitepaw immediately deposited her prey into the fresh-kill pile, and then started to head to the apprentice den right when Molepaw came up to her. Much to her distaste, Molepaw ended up asking, "Wait!" Whitepaw stopped and faced him. "While you were out, Bramblestar assigned you and me to clean Purdy's bedding and check him for fleas."

Whitepaw would have wanted nothing more than to just rest, but she still couldn't disobey the leader. "Fine. How do I do that stuff?"

"I'll show you." The young cat led Whitepaw to a hazel bush, protected with honeysuckle and beech tree branches.

Inside was a bit dim, but they were still able to see the brown, ragged elder laying in a nest. Whitepaw recognized Purdy, since he was the only elder in the camp. Purdy didn't see the two younger cats until they entered the den. The elder lazily waved his tail in greeting.

Whitepaw greeted Purdy back. "Hi."

"Hello, young 'un. Are you the cat who every cat keeps meowin' about?" His aged amber eyes looked curiously at the white she-cat.

"Yes. I am." she said, shyly.

Purdy asked a few questions. "I keep hearin' cats talkin' 'bout you knowin' us, from past to present. Is it true?"

Whitepaw replied, "Yes. I do know about the clans."

"I was told by that young cat Cherrypaw sayin' somethin' 'bout you livin' like an Upwalker."

"Yes, I was a Twoleg once, but got turned into a cat."

"An' hedgehogs can fly! Give me one good reason why I should believe that."

Whitepaw thought for a moment. "Since I read books about you as a Twoleg, I know that you helped the clans a few times before becoming an elder here."

"You could have just seen me from time to time. I'll give you a question. What are one o' my stories I told here to a clanmate?"

Whitepaw tried to remember. She finally found one and said, "You once were telling Hollyleaf a story where you had a fox come into your Twoleg's garden."

Purdy didn't talk for a bit. He finally responded by giving a surprised expression. "You are a Twoleg! No one could have snuck into the camp an' seen an' heard every detail!" Whitepaw was amused by the elder's quick change of attitude.

Throughout the conversation, Whitepaw nor Purdy had noticed that Molepaw had left. Whitepaw looked around and noticed that the apprentice had just come back carrying moss.

Molepaw placed it beside Purdy's nest. To Whitepaw's surprise, an incredibly horrible odor came from one of the moss pieces. She twitched her nose to try to ignore it, but asked about it. "Molepaw, what's in one of those pieces of moss?"

"Mouse bile for fleas. You can do that as I replace the bedding." As disgusted as Whitepaw was, she did it anyway.

After a quick explanation from Molepaw about how to apply mouse bile and search for fleas, Whitepaw began to go through Purdy's fur. While she did that, along with Molepaw doing the bedding, Purdy asked, "You young 'uns want to hear a story?"

"Sure!" said Molepaw.

Whitepaw nodded. Purdy began. "I was taking a stroll through the forest a bit from my Upwalkers place, see, an' I heard barkin' behind me..." After hearing about thirty seconds of the story, Whitepaw tuned it out and continued picking fleas out.

After a while, she didn't find anymore. Molepaw just finished the bedding around the same time. "...an' I thought I was a goner until an ol' friend o' mine came along..."

Molepaw interrupted the story. "Okay Purdy, I'll be right back. I just need to rid the old bedding."

Whitepaw excused herself. "Yeah, I'll be leaving. I need to rest from today." _And I also need to get rid of this bile off of my paws!_

"That's fine, young 'uns. See you later Whitepaw."

Molepaw took the old bedding and the moss of bile. He and Whitepaw exited the elders den. Whitepaw randomly told her compliant to Molepaw as they went across the clearing. "I hope Bramblestar doesn't give me anymore requests. I'm so tired!"

Whitepaw heard snickering coming from Molepaw. Wondering, she asked, "What's so funny?"

"I'll tell you in just a moment." He ran off, leaving Whitepaw standing where she was. After about a minute, Molepaw came back and answered, "I just didn't want to make a mess of the moss when I told you this."

Whitepaw eyed the apprentice. "Told me what?"

Molepaw made a small _mrrow_ of laughter. "Bramblestar never told you to do that, I just didn't want to search for fleas!"

Whitepaw took it by surprise. She said, "Why you little..." She cuffed him around the ear, making him squeal.

"Hey, you still have bile on your paws!" The apprentice pounced at her, knocking her off her paws.

After play-fighting for a bit, Lionblaze happened to be the one to stop them. He came up to the Molepaw and Whitepaw and pushed them apart. After that, he faced Whitepaw, and then Molepaw.

"Hey, stop it! What do you think you are, kits?" he scolded.

Molepaw was about to say an answer when Whitepaw said her's first. "I don't know, maybe?" She made a small playful smile while Lionblaze just stared at her.

After a few seconds of an awkward silence, Whitepaw burst out laughing. "I'm sorry! Your face is just priceless!" She continued laughing, but then fell on her back to the ground.

"You rather than Molepaw could be a kit after all." commented Lionblaze.

After a few more seconds of laughing, Whitepaw finally calmed down and got up. Lionblaze didn't say anything more, and walked away.

Molepaw looked at Whitepaw as if she were to have two heads. "You're response was, 'Maybe we are kits'?"

"Why not? I don't really know why I said that." Whitepaw giggled after saying that.

Molepaw shook his head. He padded past the white apprentice, vanishing among the other cats. Whitepaw then exited camp to a river to wash the bile from her paws.

After the she-cat returned, she realized that she was finally able to sleep. She walked away to the apprentice den quickly, worried something else would hold her back.

She made it to the den without any interruptions. She went over to her nest and curled into a ball. Shutting her eyes, she hoped sleep would come to her soon.

III

Whitepaw woke up at dusk. It was dark in and out of the den, making it hard to see. She gazed around, but saw no one else in the den. The she-cat lazily climbed up to her paws, making her way to the entrance of the den.

When she reached the entrance, she saw many dark shapes roam the area. The shadows were cats chatting amongst each other in the clearing. Whitepaw could hardly see who was who, or what their pelt color was. But the moonlight suddenly poured into the camp, making it better to see.

Whitepaw walked out of the den completely, and immediately felt a cold shiver run through her. She padded around the clearing, bored. She could have gone back to sleep, but it wasn't much of an exciting thing to do. She finally decided to take a stroll into the forest for a bit, but she would need to bring someone with so she wouldn't get lost.

Before she left camp, she found Cherrypaw instead of Blossomfall, since she wanted to talk to someone else for once, and took her with. The two she-cats began to walk through the forest silently, before Cherrypaw began to ask Whitepaw questions.

"What was the best part about reading about us?" Even though Whitepaw couldn't she the ginger cat, she could still feel Cherrypaw look at her with strong curiosity.

Whitepaw had to think on that question. The first thing that came to her mind was all of the memories involving forbidden love. Most of them ended badly, if not, horrible. But they did have all their happy moments, even if someone had to die in the end.

Whitepaw told her answer. "All the relationships and love. It's all so sweet, and luckily not anything too inappropriate. It's nice to read about the cats falling in love, even if they're not suppose to."

"What do you mean?"

Whitepaw sighed. "I can't tell you all of them, even the ones that are beyond in the past." She still didn't think telling the cats about Storm, Gray Wing, Clear Sky, or Bright Stream would be necessary. "But, you know about Firestar and Spottedleaf, don't you?"

The apprentice nodded. Whitepaw continued. "Yeah, I didn't even realize they had feelings for each other until a certain book-" She stopped, not wanting to give away information like gossip. "How about I answer another question."

Cherrypaw thought for a moment. "Do you have a favorite cat?"

"Easy. Graystripe and Jayfeather." She hoped she wouldn't accidentally give away to much of a reason if Cherrypaw got more curious.

"Why are they both toms?" Cherrypaw seemed to have a teasing tone in her voice.

Whitepaw playful nudged her a bit hard with her paw. "I do not like them! Jayfeather is a medicine cat, and Graystripe has a mate!" _My StarClan, when the heck will everyone stop asking me these questions?_

Cherrypaw _mrrowed_ with laughter. "I was just joking!" She stopped laughing. "So, what do you think will happen here? Are you planning to do anything?"

"I don't know, that's up to the Twolegs who write about you. And..." She stopped. She thought, _What am I going to do here? Yeah I want to be a warrior, but..._

It felt as if everything about the place came back to her. She didn't find anything that she could do. When she was a Twoleg, she had a thousand things to choose from. Now that she was here, she could only do about a tenth of anything. _Sleep, hunt, patrol, talk, walk..._ The things that she could do now seemed like nothing.

"Hello?"

Whitepaw snapped out of her thoughts. "Oh, uh, sorry. I was thinking. What do you mean by, 'what am I planning to do?'"

"You could be a warrior! But I know you will become one. Do you want to have a mate? Be leader? Be a medicine cat? Stuff like that."

"Is there anything else?" she said, hopefully.

Cherrypaw thought for a moment. "Unless you want to be a 'hero', nothing else, then. Why?"

"Nothing, nothing. I don't want to become a medicine cat, nor leader. I do want to be a warrior, of course, but," she sighed. "I'm just not used to having so little things to do."

"Don't worry; you'll find something interesting." Cherrypaw said. Whitepaw jokingly thought, _Let's hope for something soon before I begin to see someone across the border for fun._

The night had just fallen, leaving the forest almost pitch black. Cherrypaw seemed to have no trouble walking while Whitepaw was worried she would run into some thorns.

They both soon went back to camp. When they reached the stone hollow, Whitepaw padded to the apprentice den. When she reached it, she plopped down in her nest, and then fell asleep.

She woke up the next morning, having sunlight glare into the den. Whitepaw laid there for a few minutes to wake up fully. She eventually got up lazily and walked out of the den into the sunlight. Almost immediately, a cat began to pad towards the waking she-cat.

It was Lionblaze. Whitepaw kept walking forward in case he wasn't actually going to her. But the golden cat did, and he stood in front of Whitepaw. Whitepaw stopped. _What in StarClan's name does he want?_

"Would you like to join me and Cinderheart?" said the golden tabby.

Whitepaw looked at him oddly. She nodded anyway, following him afterwards. Lionblaze led the apprentice near the warriors den, which was where Cinderheart was laying down at. The gray warrior made a friendly smile to Whitepaw, but it still felt weird to be invited to sit with them.

Lionblaze and Whitepaw reached the third cat, and Whitepaw sat in front of her while Lionblaze laid down next to her. Whitepaw stared at the ground shyly as Cinderheart greeted her.

"Hello, Whitepaw. I thought I could talk to you and see how you're doing in the clan."

Whitepaw was confused. _Since when was Cinderheart my chaperone?_ "Oh, I'm doing fine."

Cinderheart looked at her, seeming slightly concerned. "You are just always alone. _Always_. Are you not happy here?"

Whitepaw thought, _I don't know why she's so concerned for me, but I don't need anyone to act like my parents here._ She abruptly asked, "Why are you asking me that?"

Cinderheart seemed slightly surprised by that. She calmly replied, "I was just curious-"

This brought back memories of Whitepaw's Twoleg life. A memory flashed by of her being watched over by a teacher. Always making sure she was doing everything, acting as if she was a kit. It might have not been that way, but it felt like that to Whitepaw in her Twoleg life.

Whitepaw interrupted the she-cat. "No!" She realized what she had done and immediately apologized. "I'm sorry. I just...I don't need to be watched over. Is there an actual reason why you or Lionblaze have me talk to you?" She instantly calmed down quickly, like melting ice. She didn't feel like herself at the moment.

Cinderheart and Lionblaze looked at her with wide shocked eyes. Lionblaze asked, "We wanted to know how you were doing. We didn't mean to upset you."

"I'm not upset, I'm just..." She sighed. "I'm sorry, I just got reminded of my Twoleg life. I need to leave." Without anything more said, the white apprentice walked away from the two. She needed to calm down.

Whitepaw trotted across the clearing to the camp entrance. She needed to clear her mind, act like herself, do anything to get herself to feel normal. She walked on towards to Sky Oak, walking a bit faster than usual. She eventually walked slowly and became calmer as she went.

She tried to get her mind not to dwell on the conversation moments ago by thinking of what Twolegs might be up to; even though Twolegs were the conversation she wanted to get away from, she couldn't think of any other subject at the moment.

She began to think what the people she watched on YouTube were doing, like the gamer people. But since she had no way to make a self-conversation with that, she tried to change the subject.

Whitepaw stopped. She scented something. She would think it would be prey, but this wasn't a scent she had came over from the past half-moon. The scent seemed to be carried from the lake to her. She began to follow it, and after a while she reached the Sky Oak. She immediately ran behind a bush while able to see a view of something troubling.

It saw a Twoleg, laying down under the Sky Oak. It was highly unlikely for one to cross on to clan borders, but if the clans were never seen by Twolegs, then they wouldn't have been curious of anything strange.

Whitepaw kept staring at the young Twoleg. It was a a little girl, maybe around eight or ten. She wore a white shirt with lace trimmings, a long, abstract, flowery skirt that went to her knees, white sneakers, and a bead bracelet. Next to her was an iPhone, and in her hands was an iPad.

Whitepaw was about to run back to the clan to warn her clanmates when the most inconvenient thought occurred to her. _Wait. She has an iPad?_ The curious she-cat focused back into the young girl, watching her.

Whitepaw crept to the right to see what was on the iPad while peeking through a patch of ferns. It looked to be iTunes, and the girl had pink earphones on. Whitepaw kept watching as if she was amazed by the iPad, even though she had one in her Twoleg life.

Whitepaw thought, half-annoyed, _Why does she have to be in that specific spot out of the entire place? _Whitepaw's worries about the clans vanished like the speed of light as she stayed there.

After about ten minutes, the girl picked up her phone. She got up and walked away, leaving her iPad and iPhone there. Whitepaw figured that the girl would come back for them, which made the apprentice have a risky idea. _Maybe I could do this..._

Whitepaw snuck out of the ferns and casually walked up to the Human objects. She sat in front of the iPad and thought to herself, _Maybe I could just...see what's going on in the Twoleg world._

**Uh-oh. Whitepaw might be in trouble since she's doing something Twoleg-like.**

**I know, this is a lame chapter, mostly because I obviously kept switching scenes too quickly. I'll try to stay on the same subject in the next chapter if I have enough to write about.**

**I was starting to run out of ideas (obviously) so I decided to have the iPad scene come now. Now, Whitepaw is able to catch up to what's going on right now in 2014. Well, we will all see what she sees in the next chapter. Bye!**


	8. Chapter 8

Whitepaw stared down at the sideways iPad, wondering if it's worth the time. Since she hadn't had any access to technology for half a moon, she either forgot about it or didn't get much of a reminder. Now was her chance to have small, reminded entertainment she would rarely have.

After glancing around to make sure no cat, or Twoleg, was watching, she pressed the button to the right of the white iPad. A blue light in the form of bubbles glowed from the screen, appearing to be the entering screen. An arrow pointing to the right with the words 'slide to unlock' floated at the bottom.

Wondering if it took animal paws, she tapped the screen and slid her paw across. The screen flickered black for one second before going to a home screen. Many apps were placed in rows in front of an abstract, rainbow background. Whitepaw knew she only had a limited time before something would catch her. So, instead of checking many of here favorite things on the internet, she browsed through the games.

Many she had seen before were shown: Flappy Bird, Angry Birds, Plants vs. Zombies, Slenderman, Geometry Dash, Magic Piano, and many, many others. One app caught her eye specifically. It was a creepy looking bear staring straight forward, as if it was looking right at Whitepaw.

_I haven't seen something like _this_ before. I guess it's a new horror game_, she thought. She was fond of animals, which was one reason she wanted to then play it, but she liked some horror games as well (if she didn't quit within 10 seconds).

She clicked the game, making the screen have a static background and the same bear glitch on the right side. The title was shown, saying 'Five Nights at Freddy's'. The title encouraged the cat to go on since it sounded interesting. She pressed 'new game', even though another option said 'continue, night 3'.

The screen blacked out, and then reappeared to show a small office. On each side of her, there were two buttons, one red and the other white, and a door on each side as well. An arrow at the bottom pointed down, battery life was in the bottom left corner of the screen, and a clock in the upper right corner.

Fear began to creep inside of Whitepaw, but she continued. She slightly jumped at a ring of a telephone. Whitepaw waited for it to be answered, and calmed down a bit when the voice sounded friendly.

"Hello, hello? Uh, I wanted to record a message for you to help you get settled in on your first night. Um, I actually worked in that office before you. I'm finished up my last..." Whitepaw listened as she began to test all of the mechanics.

She looked around the room by swiping her paw back and forth. She clicked the buttons before finally clicked the one with the arrow. She felt her heart jump as she saw three robots. One was the bear she saw before, but more detail was shown, like a top hat and bow tie. A purple rabbit with a bow tie, too, was next to the bear. And finally, a yellow duck with a bib saying 'Let's Eat!' was on the other side of the bear.

A layout to the building her player was in was to the right of her screen. As she pressed certain areas to different cameras of the area, she heard the guy say, "Fazbear Entertainment is not responsible for damage to property or person. Upon discovering that damage or death has occurred, a missing person report will be filed within 90 days, or as soon property or premises..." Whitepaw kept listening, slightly frightened by the dark laws of the place.

After the guy said, "Blah, blah, blah, now that might sound bad, I know, but there's really nothing to worry about," Whitepaw commented outloud, "Nothing to worry about? Are you saying death has occurred in this building?"

She kept on looking around and eventually saw a purple and starred curtain with a sign 'Out of Order' in front of it. She pressed the arrow button at the bottom of the screen and listened to the phone guy.

"So, just be aware, the characters ten to wander a bit. Uh, they're left on some sort of free roaming mode..."

Whitepaw panicked and clicked the red buttons on each side. She did not want to be jump-scared.

"But then there was the bite of '87. Yeah. It's amazing that the human body can live without the frontal lobe, you know?" Whitepaw thought, _Is he saying on of those things bit someone? Great StarClan..._

The phone guy continued. "...probably won't recognize you as a person. They'll most likely see you as a metal endoskeleton without its costume on." It went on until it finally ended. "Uh, check those cameras, and remember to close the doors only if absolutely necessary. Gotta conserve power. Alright, good night."

It ended and Whitepaw began to open the doors. She looked at her power and saw it at 70% percent but it was at 12 p.m. Whitepaw looked at the cameras and flipped through the footage. The duck was gone, but she found it at a few party tables. Whitepaw flinched at the creepy stare it gave.

Whitepaw gave herself a mental scold. _Why am I still playing this? It's going to give me nightmares!_ She kept going and found the bunny near the left side of the office. She closed the camera and closed the left door. She had seconds thoughts and turned the light switch on before considering opening the door. She heard a suspense sound affect, telling her that it was there.

She tapped the screen and eventually saw the curtain again, though this time it showed an animatronic fox peeking out. Whitepaw sighed, knowing there was now a fourth object to keep in mind now.

She went on with the game for a few more minutes, still alive, when a voice behind her in the real world nearly gave her a heart attack. "Whitepaw, what are you doing?"

Whitepaw literally jumped a few inches from the ground, turning around when she landed. Lionblaze was standing a few mouse-lengths from the iPad. Whitepaw's first motive was to pause the game instead of acknowledging the warrior. She went back to the game and searched for the pause button. Except, there wasn't.

She closed the doors on the game before backing away and answering Lionblaze. "What the heck was that for?" She said, freaked out. "You scared me out of my fur!"

Lionblaze stared at Whitepaw, and then the iPad. He looked at the object curiously, but didn't move to it. He stared back at Whitepaw, having both confusion and shock drift in his amber eyes. "What are you doing?"

"I was playing a game. I saw this laying around when a girl left it." She was oblivious about the reaction the tom gave.

Lionblaze's eyes widened, seeming to know Whitepaw meant 'Twoleg'. "You were around a Twoleg? And you were being involved with their things?"

Whitepaw's mind clicked, realizing she was doing something wrong. She tried to get out of trouble that might come to her. "I was too curious! I haven't had any access to any social media ever since I came here! I couldn't help myself." She realized her reason was too lame, and she waited for Lionblaze to scold at her.

"Do you have any idea how irresponsible this is? You were playing around instead warning the clan about this!" Slight anger edged his voice. "I know you are a Twoleg, but you can't go act like one! You could have been taken, or put the clan in danger if any of those. Twolegs tracked us. You said you appreciated this world."

"I do! But...but..." She didn't have anything to defend herself. She made a silly mistake to do something while the clan did their duties. She went off to have fun when her current position is an apprentice. She lowered her head slightly in shame. "I'm sorry. I made a bad decision. But," she lifted her head back up, and stared into Lionblaze's eyes. She mischievously said, "But I can't promise you I won't do it again."

"You have to, or else you'll be breaking the warrior code. As said, cats may not go off and become kittypets, thus betraying their clan. Same can go for Twolegs." He sighed, as though letting his anger drift away. "I'm sorry I was a harsh, but we can't have Twolegs lay around our territory."

Whitepaw understood, and stopped showing her shame. Lionblaze continued. "How did the Twoleg appear here?"

Whitepaw answered, "I don't know. I saw her, but she left after watching her. She might come back for her things."

"We should chase it off." Lionblaze declared. Whitepaw's eyes widened a bit in alarm.

"We're not going to hurt her, are we?" the white apprentice said, a bit concerned for the Twoleg, though not protesting yet.

Lionblaze thought for a moment. "Is she young?" Whitepaw nodded. Lionblaze said, "We might have to, if she acts stubborn."

Whitepaw sighed in relief. She hoped they wouldn't have to in the end, though.

Lionblaze stood there for a bit before speaking again. "In the mean time, I need you to retrieve your punishment. StarClan won't be helping you this time. We can-" He cut himself off, and stared up. Whatever he was looking at, it was behind Whitepaw. The she-cat turned around as well to see the girl looking at them.

The girl stared back, surprised to see the two. Lionblaze instantly unsheathed his claws and bared his teeth. Whitepaw unsheathed her own, but looked less harmful than Lionblaze.

_Lionblaze, if you so happen to touch her, I'll tear your ears off!_, Whitepaw threatened silently. She yowled at the girl, who began to pick the phone and iPad up, hoping to scare her. When the Twoleg gathered her things, she put her things down again and tempted to pet one of the cats.

Lionblaze hissed at her, but the girl didn't back away. Lionblaze looked over to Whitepaw, mouthing the words 'claw _her?_'. Whitepaw shook her head. She didn't want to hurt the girl at all, even if she had to. The two cats yowled and swiped at the girl a foot away. The girl stood where she was, looking as though she thought the cats had to calm down before she touched them.

Lionblaze looked to be seconds away from scratching the girl when Whitepaw drew a long caterwaul. The girl finally began to back away, a little frightened. She picked her things up again, backing up along the edge of the lake. She looked to be starting to turn around when she tripped over a rock. She fell onto her back, dropping her items.

Whitepaw stopped, but Lionblaze continued stalking forward. The young Twoleg began to sniffle, and then tears began to form in her eyes. Lionblaze stopped, and noticed Whitepaw wasn't following. He said, "Whitepaw, come on. We need it out of here."

Whitepaw ignored him. She began to feel bad for the Twoleg. She gazed at the young girl. _Younger than I thought_. She sighed, almost regretting her next decision. The apprentice padded past Lionblaze up to the Twoleg. The girl tried to get away, but Whitepaw kept walking. Whitepaw reached the girl's face and nuzzled her head against the Twoleg's. Lionblaze's tail dropped and his mouth hung open in astonishment.

Whitepaw purred, trying to calm the girl down. Lionblaze tried walking up to the two before getting rejected when Whitepaw hissed at him. Lionblaze stood where he was, and replied to the hiss. "Whitepaw, you're acting mouse-brained! We need it out of here, we can't have it here on ThunderClan territory!"

"We scared her too much. How about we just guide her back? She'll most likely follow us." Whitepaw knew she sounded exactly like a mouse-brain, but she couldn't just watch the girl being frightened out.

"Whitepaw, we are _not_ going to guide a Twoleg back to their den. And where would we even go?" argued Lionblaze.

"Her parents can't be far. She might live near Smoky's barn, anyway. Let's just guide her there." Whitepaw hoped Lionblaze would accept. She needed this to be easy, or else another clan might see them, or another Twoleg, if they made more of a commotion than they already have.

Lionblaze thought about it for a long time. After a few minutes, he sighed heavily. "Fine. But I'm telling Bramblestar this was your idea."

Whitepaw nodded, agreeing. Whitepaw nudged the girl to get her up by gently pushing her with her paws. The Twoleg did get up, gathered her things, and stood there. Whitepaw figured this would happen. Whitepaw walked about two fox-lengths away, and then sat down. Lionblaze played along and did the same, sitting next to Whitepaw.

The Twoleg stood there, staring down at the cats curiously. Whitepaw stayed patient while Lionblaze looked to be struggling to stay still, since he didn't want to do this in the first place. The girl eventually started to slowly step one foot at a time toward the clan cats. After she was about a tail length away, Whitepaw got on all fours and padded away. She sat down again, waiting for the girl to follow.

Lionblaze did the same. The Twoleg followed less cautiously. Whitepaw then got up and ambled along the lake's edge. Lionblaze followed again. The Twoleg walked with them as the cats guided her across WindClan territory, within the walk area.

Lionblaze caught up with Whitepaw, looking slightly surprised, but still had annoyance in his voice. "Why are we still doing this? It could have found her own way back."

"She's a little girl, and her parents should have been with her. I thought you were kind enough to know that." Whitepaw said.

Lionblaze flicked his tail back and forth. "I don't want more Twolegs to gather around clan territory. When we lead 'her' back, she could follow us again, bringing others alongside her." he added, "Besides, I needed to follow you to make sure you are fine and that she is returned to her den."

Whitepaw was about to speak before Lionblaze spoke again. "I was looking out for the clan. This would have been easier if you hadn't of gone and did what you did."

Whitepaw figured he meant 'playing Five Nights at Freddy's'. "I couldn't help it! It's not my fault I got addicted to certain items."

"Then who's is it?"

Whitepaw thought for a moment. "I could say my parents, since they allowed it, but that wouldn't be true per se. Twolegs often get addicted to phones, tablets, and music related things."

Lionblaze shook his head. He didn't say anything else and continued on. The two cats, and Twoleg, reached the Twoleg barn; Whitepaw noticed they had passed WindClan into RiverClan territory. The cats stopped at a wooden fence as the Twoleg passed them to a house. The girl walked further to the house, and the door to it suddenly opened. A woman popped out and ran to the girl.

The woman, Whitepaw assuming her to be the mother, started to talk to the girl. Whitepaw was too far away to hear what they were saying, but then remembered she wouldn't understand them anyway. She flicked Lionblaze, signaling they could leave. The two cats did.

They bounded passed the WindClan borders, across WindClan boundaries, and onto ThunderClan territory. As Lionblaze and Whitepaw walked through the forest, Lionblaze asked a question.

"What were you doing? Before I asked why you were around a Twoleg's things, you were staring at the flat thing, and tapping it with your paw. You seemed memorized by it. How so?" The tom gazed at Whitepaw for an answer.

Whitepaw immediately explained. "Well, most Twoleg's get so into a game, it feels like their inside it. And I'm talking about games that were like that, on a screen." She continued. "Anyway, I was playing something called 'Five Nights at Freddy's'."

"Who's 'Freddy'?"

"I'm not sure, but I think it was the bear." She paused, having a new thought come to her. "Are you okay if I tell you this? It's a horror game, and I don't want you to have nightmares if I tell you."

"Are you kidding? I'm a warrior, I'm the best fighter in the clan! I'm not going to be scared of some game!"

Whitepaw shook her head. "No, I'm talking about fears, for example, fears of something, how do I say this, visually scary. It's not emotional, it's not deep, it's something that gives you temporary nightmares or fears about something you think is visually scary."

"Like yours with spiders." Whitepaw nodded. Lionblaze seemed intrigued by what she was saying. "But, why would you play a game that does that?"

"Maybe it's because I like backstories? A good backstory is always interesting, and scary things have the best ones." She began to explain the game. "Okay, so Five Nights at Freddy's seems to be a game where you are a night guard. You stay in one area and you have this device to let you see where these creatures are. They're called animatronics, which are robotic, or fake, animals, in this case. They are the enemies, and they are trying to kill you by shoving you inside something because they see you as a robotic inside piece.

"You check the device so a rabbit, Freddy, a duck, and a fox doesn't come after you and get you. I don't know what happens if you die, but I'm sure you would be jump-scared."

Lionblaze's eyes widened with much shock. "You can _die_?"

Whitepaw realized he didn't understand the metaphor. "No, no, no. I'm saying you can die in the game, not in real life! If you could die in real life from a techonological game, the games wouldn't exist" she added just in case. "A jump-scare is when something out of no where frightens you, making you jump, and I don't know how to explain technology much."

Lionblaze calmed down. "Okay. Oh, were back at camp." He pointed his tail ahead

Whitepaw stared up ahead. The camp was a few tail-lengths from them, the thorn barrier visible. Lionblaze and Whitepaw reached the barrier and passed through it.

Before Whitepaw went away, she said to the golden warrior, "So, bye."

"Wait. We still have to report this to Bramblestar. Follow me." instructed Lionblaze. Whitepaw had forgotten they had to do when they started to talk about the game. She reluctantly follow the warrior to the leader's den.

When they reached the mound of rocks up to the den, Lionblaze halted Whitepaw as he continued on. He climbed the rocks to the cave, entering afterwards. After a few minutes of waiting and listening to muffled meowing, Lionblaze exited the den down the rocks, and right after him came out Bramblestar, who was peeking from his den down at Whitepaw.

Bramblestar gestured Whitepaw to come in when he turned around and flicked his tail. Whitepaw did as suggested, feeling nervous of what she'll be ordered to do as a punishment. She climbed the rocks and into the den, seeing Bramblestar sitting near his nest.

Whitepaw waited to be punished as Bramblestar spoke. "I am not entirely mad at you, but you needed to warn the clan instead of being distracted by the Twoleg's things. Though you did lead the Twoleg back, correct?" Whitepaw nodded, feeling a ton of relief. Bramblestar went on. "I'll think about this further, since the Twoleg had unexpectedly come this far here. You may or may not be in trouble, since you did more good than bad. But remember: you cannot go off and have some sort of 'fun' while the clan is at work, let alone not warning the clan about something important, like this, first. Is that clear?"

Whiteoaw answered, relieved to have been given a punishment, yet. "I promise I will, if needed, warn the clan about any danger rather than get distracted. And I won't go off into the forest all the time." _I hope I remember that._

Whitepaw waited to be excused, but Bramblestar unexpectedly asked, "How did you even find the Twoleg?"

"I was just wandering around the forest."

"That's all? You didn't pick up a scent?"

"No. I'm not in the habit of using sound or smell much yet for finding things."

Bramblestar stared at her, as if she was supposed to be used to it by day one. "Of course, but you need your new senses if you are going to survive here. Better step up your training. That is all I wanted to discuss."

Whitepaw dipped her head, and then exited the den down the rock hill. Immediately afterwards, Cinderheart came over to her.

"I was a bit worried about you." The gray she-cat said, concern in her voice.

"Okay...but you don't need to be worried for me. I'm going to hunt now." said Whitepaw, abruptly. She felt odd around the warrior now, as if she was the Twoleg here. She executed her sudden plan right after she left the cat.

Whitepaw once again exited the thorn barrier, but was being tailed by Blossomfall. The dappled cat caught up with the apprentice.

"Hey, I thought we could chat over fresh-kill."

Whitepaw had a bit of annoyance in her voice. "May I be alone? Again?"

This time, Blossomfall looked hurt. She stopped, making Whitepaw stop. Whitepaw felt guilt, feling as though she made a mistake. "No, I didn't mean it like that-"

"No, it's okay. I just thought I could comfort you. But that's fine if you want to be alone." The she-cat turned around and left the area, Whitepaw losing sight of her in the changing forest.

Whitepaw sighed. She'd figure out what was up with the warrior later. Whitepaw padded along the forest, aimlessly walking around. She noticed the forest around her, which was now a mixture of orange, red, and yellow ontop of the greenery. The sky had a few dark clouds under the blue screen.

Whitepaw looked up after a while of walking. She found herself at the catmint supply. Curious, she went over to the patch of stalks and looked around. Tiny green stems peeked out of the soil, some of them with leaves. Whitepaw didn't touch them, afraid she might break one of them. She didn't pick them either; she would have wanted to be instructed by a medicine cat to do _that_.

Whitepaw continued on from her detour, and began to think about the game she was playing. Five Nights at Freddy's. It was an odd title, yet it was still a horror game, something meant for surprises. A real surprise was hearing something called the 'Bite of '87'.

Her mind switched back to Blossomfall and her obvious sadness. Whitepaw wouldn't do anything about that unless the subject was brought up by the warrior.

Lastly, she thought about why Bramblestar let her off so easily. She got distracted instead of rushing off to the clan and tell them! She was lucky that Lionblaze found her, or else she would have forgotten that a Twoleg on ThunderClan border was bad.

_Speaking of bad things, when will the clans go back to normal? _She may be self-absorbed, but she at least paid attention to the clan. When she wasn't off on her own in the forest, she noticed that things in camp had been a bit tense.

Jayfeather seems to be more rushed than a medicine was supposed to, like he's worried about something. Whitepaw knew he was treating the clans wounds, but he shouldn't be _that_ worried. Maybe he lost his power, due to the evidence from wikis. Dovewing's Silence description said that Dovewing lost her power, so that could mean the rest could have too.

Whitepaw shook the 'power' thought from her head and moved on to the rest of the clan. The dens are nearly repaired, since they had a moon to do so, yet the warriors den is still too small for all of the warriors.

Whitepaw deeply sighed after reminding herself the clan's doings. _Everything will be fine_, she thought, _sooner or later the clans will go back to the way they are. But Bramblestar's Storm will be in the way in about five moons, even if I don't know what will happen. I will get used to the clans, and the outside. StarClan can help us by watching over us. Everything will be fine._

**Well, this chapter was a lot smoother. As yes, I had to put Five Nights at Freddy's in here. At least Whitepaw didn't get jump-scared.**

**So...yeah. I think something interesting will happen in the next few chapters. I have plans for the October in this world...:D**

**I have decided it would be easier to make the six moons my version of what happened ever since I read Dovewing's Silence a few days ago. But I'll add events that were written in said book and Bramblestar's Storm.**

**Well, see you later!**


	9. Chapter 9

Whitepaw shivered in her nest as the cold day crept into the den. It has been half a moon and the outside had become a bit colder. It was now considered Leaf-fall, which meant even colder weather and long moons. Whitepaw had adapted to the clan's way of things, like going on patrols 90% percent of the time, doing apprentice duties, and getting used to less technological activities.

She got better at hunting, but her memory for fighting techniques didn't get any better. She hung out with Blossomfall, Molepaw, and Cherrypaw from time to time, but stayed alone like usual, just like when she was a Twoleg. Jayfeather, of course, still popped into her mind as well. Bramblestar didn't punish her about the Twoleg incident, but just gave a warning to her. Whitepaw felt sure that the rest of the clan thought the leader was going insane.

The clan had gone back to normal. The dens were rebuilt, the barriers were strengthened, and nothing had bothered the clan. Though it still felt like there was some sort of hatred going around camp, and Whitepaw couldn't figure it out yet.

Whitepaw looked up from her nest and gazed outside. Rays of faded sunshine were shown in the camp, but gray clouds were in the sky to block some of the warmth it gave. Whitepaw assumed she would be the most miserable cat when it came to Leaf-bare, since she would have usually been ten times less freezing in her house.

The white she-cat reluctantly got up, deciding it would be better idea to walk around to warm up. She walked to the den entrance, barely feeling her paws, and looked outside. An instant chill hit her, making her shiver. She looked up at the dawn sky, seeing the small amounts of clouds go away to let the day be warmer. The apprentice looked back down to see cats laying in sunshine or sharing tongues.

Whitepaw padded out of the den, feeling some heat lay onto her fur. She walked over to the fresh-kill pile and took a thrush. She laid down at a random spot in the clearing and began tearing at the bird.

While eating, her brown eyes wandered about the clearing and eyed Leafpool exiting the medicine cat den, squeezing past the bramble tendrils as she did. She made her way to the leader den, climbing the rocks after reaching it. The light brown cat vanished into the den. After a moment of nothing, the cat left the den, walked across the camp, and out into the forest.

Whitepaw was confused. _Leafpool wouldn't need to tell the leader about going out to pick herbs_, Whitepaw thought. Whitepaw then realized it might have been half moon. Luckily, Cherrypaw, who had grown in the past days, walked by.

Whitepaw stopped the ginger cat by asking, "Cherrypaw! Is it half moon?" The apprentice stopped to look back at Whitepaw.

Cherrypaw nodded, and then continued walking. Whitepaw sidetracked the current subject. _Speaking of half moon_, Whitepaw thought, _I wonder what time it is in the Twoleg world. _The apprentice pondered on the small thought for a moment more before continuing eating her thrush.

When Whitepaw finished, she disposed of the prey remains. She was about to ask Bramblestar if she could sign up for a hunting patrol right when Jayfeather blocked her way. Whitepaw stopped and gazed up at him.

Jayfeather's eyes were gleaming, and his gray tabby pelt was glowing in the rising sunlight. He's so...so_..._, Whitepaw snapped out of her awkward trance. _Stop it! Stop it! Stop! Stop! Stop! _It annoyed the heck out of her when ever she had a thought like that. The horrible thing was that she can't erase the thought from her mind for hours.

Jayfeather swished his tail back and forth, and looked at Whitepaw in the eye as if he could see. "Whitepaw, do you have anything to do?" he said, in a demanding manner.

"N-no." Whitepaw looked everywhere but the medicine cat. She tried to stay calm while doing the best she could to make a straight face.

"Brightheart's busy in the nursery, and Leafpool has gone off to the Moonpool. You seem to have more time on your paws than any cat should. Come with me to pick the herbs in the forest, and to check them to make sure their growing properly." He padded past Whitepaw, flicking his tail to signal her to follow.

Whitepaw's blood ran cold from the thought of spending a day with the cat she wanted to avoid. But she only had a second to feel shocked before following the medicine cat. She slowly followed up behind him while they exited into the forest. While trying to look at everything except Jayfeather, Whitepaw freaked out in her mind.

_StarClan, you do realize that if I completely fall in love with him, everything will be messed up? Are you sure you chose the right cat? Or did you think I could handle it? Because if I have too strong of a feeling for him, or if he had feelings for me, which I doubt, everything will come crashing down!_

Whitepaw dwelled on the subject, but got more irritated by the fact that she was dwelling on it. Her crush for him had only gotten stronger rather than just fading away. And she was afraid she would do the mistake many had done before. But if she didn't get caught if they ever became mates, that wouldn't have mattered; StarClan would get in the way.

Whitepaw looked up to see that she was still following Jayfeather, and that they had entered an area of ferns and bushes. Jayfeather halted, and Whitepaw did so as well. The apprentice looked past the gray tabby. Nothing from what Whitepaw could see was worth stopping for.

Jayfeather tasted the air, padding to a small bush afterward. The bush had small, white flowers and large fern-like leaves. Whitepaw stared at the plant, confused, but suspected it to provide a type of herb. She looked back at Jayfeather, who was plucking a few leaves off of it.

Whitepaw asked, "What type of plant is that?"

The tom plucked a leaf and set it down. "It's chervil. We use it for infected wounds and bellyaches. Dig up some of the roots."

Whitepaw drew closer to the plant, but asked about her simple task to be sure. "So...I just dig under the bush?"

Jayfeather looked up at her oddly. "Yes. Was it necessary to repeat myself?"

"N-no...it's just," Whitepaw began to easily scrape the dirt under the plant as she spoke. "I feel that if I don't get enough clarification for a task, I might do it wrong." She quickly reached the ends of several roots in the ground, and began to pull them off the larger ones.

"I guess that's better than messing up." He pulled away from the chervil and walked a few paces away. Jayfeather plucked a huge leaf from a different plant, and returned to the chervil plant.

The tom placed the picked chervil leaves onto the bigger leaf. He looked back up at Whitepaw with his blind eyes. "When you finish digging up a few roots, meet me back at camp to check a few herbs." He picked up the large leaf, by folding the long ends together, and carried the herbs away. Before Whitepaw could question it, the cat vanished. The she-cat wondered why she needed to check herbs with him.

She continued digging up pieces of roots, having her claws filled with dirt. When she felt she had enough, she pushed the picked roots aside to fill the hole she dug back up with dirt. She did the same thing that Jayfeather did, and plucked a large leaf from the nearby bush. She placed the roots on top of it, and then folded the leaf's ends to carry the roots.

She picked it up and did her best to guide herself back to camp. She also tried to use her scent ability to find the scent trail Jayfeather had left, though it was tough since the scent of herbs was wavering right under her nose. It took her a bit before she successfully led herself back to camp without much of a delay.

Whitepaw went through the thorn barrier, making her way to the medicine den. She lowered her head a bit as she felt a bit awkward walking across the clearing while carrying chervil roots, even though it was perfectly normal. She saw the medicine cat den and sped up her walking. When she reached the den, she saw Jayfeather inside, who was in the medicine store.

Whitepaw stepped inside, but paused when Jayfeather turned around. He looked at Whitepaw and said, "Place them next to me and wait near Briarlight." Whitepaw did as told, seeing Briarlight in the corner of her eye as she walked over to the tom.

Whitepaw set down the roots, and backed away to the wall a mouse length or two away from Briarlight. She sat down and waited silently.

Briarlight didn't say anything, and neither did Whitepaw. Whitepaw wondered what the disabled she-cat was thinking, but it could have been either annoyance or shyness of being near a Twoleg cat. Whitepaw didn't talk to her, being shy herself, and that it wasn't the correct time for a conversation.

After waiting for several moments, Jayfeather came out of the den, seeming to have put the herbs away and disposed of the large leaves. He walked to the den entrance, flicked his tail, and said, "Come on, Whitepaw." Whitepaw got on all fours and followed the gray tabby.

The two cats exited the den, leaving Briarlight alone, and walked to the thorn barrier. Jayfeather went through first, and Whitepaw followed after him. They began to pad through the forest in a direction Jayfeather was leading. Whitepaw didn't ask why she was needed.

They didn't go very far. After what seemed like a few heartbeats of walking, Jayfeather asked, "Whitepaw, let me talk to you."

Whitepaw felt a mixture of surprise and curiosity. She sped up next to him and walked a couple of mouse-lengths from him.

Jayfeather sighed. "Why did you come here?"

Whitepaw was confused. "What?"

Jayfeather repeated his question. "I said, 'why did you come here?'. You know, why did you appear? And why did you join ThunderClan, for StarClan's sake?"

Whitepaw figured he wanted to know who the Twoleg in the clan was, and so she answered with honesty. "Well, StarClan must have answered my wish to come here to get away from the Twoleg world. And I joined ThunderClan because it was my favorite clan." She answered, cheerily.

Jayfeather stared at her for a second before continuing. "If you really know us, then say something that no one knows except me." He added, "I'm asking these questions to know who you are, why your here. StarClan didn't warn me nor Leafpool about this."

"Oh, okay. Well...I don't remember if anyone knows, but you were someone called 'Jay's Wing' in the 'Ancients' time era for cats, and you also had, or have, feelings for an ancient cat named Half Moon." Whitepaw hoped Jayfeather wouldn't take offense to her answers.

Jayfeather flinched. Whitepaw didn't say anything and waited for him to get over her answer.

The tom straightened himself up and kept going with the questions. "Alright. So, from what Bramblestar told me and Leafpool, you do know everything?"

Whitepaw was about to answer her usual 'Yes', but then decided not to for no apparent reason. "Well, I know only the information that was given to me. I know most of everything, but only things relating to...well...technically yes. Uh...did that make sense?"

Jayfeather asked, "Does that actually mean you do know _mostly_ everything?"

"Um...yes."

"Fine, then. If you know everything, then why haven't you been saying it to other cats? If I know Twolegs, then I know they can make mistakes."

Whitepaw said, "What? I know they took away the clans' first home, and that they can cause trouble, but a true Warriors fan would know how to act if they were in the clans. At least, I hope they do."

"Wait, 'true warriors fan'? What do you mean?"

"There are fans of the-" Whitepaw cut herself off. "We're getting off track. Continue the questions."

Jayfeather shook his head. "Yes, of course. When you say you know everything, how? Did you 'read' it descriptively? Or was it just direct information?"

"Um...descriptively."

The medicine cat stopped, making Whitepaw stop. Jayfeather looked at her and said, "So, your saying that you've seen every detail of relationships, lives, battles, and even loses?"

"Yes..." Whitepaw said, uneasily.

Jayfeather sat down, looking exhausted, as if he ran across the territory. Whitepaw didn't understand what he was thinking. She didn't say anything until he began to talk again.

The medicine cat looked at Whitepaw. "How many lives have you read about?"

"I read about Firestar, Bramblestar, Leafpool, Squirrelflight, you, Lionblaze, Hollyleaf, Ivypool, Dovewing, Bluestar, and Yellowfang. But that's only for most of the ThunderClan cats, and I've read about cats in other clans too."

Jayfeather sat there with shock on his face. Whitepaw sat down too, feeling a bit awkward.

There was silence for a long time. Jayfeather looked to be taking in what the Twoleg said. Whitepaw didn't know what to do at that moment, and only sheathed and unsheathed her claws patiently for something to happen.

Jayfeather spoke, but sounded a surprised. "You knew those cats and I through kithood?" Whitepaw answered, "Yes."

Whitepaw still didn't understand his entire shock, and so she asked, "Jayfeather, why do you look so...surprised?"

"Knowing that some cat had lived your life since kithood can be very shocking, if you don't know." Jayfeather snapped, looking away while meowing. "And me knowing that you've seen my life, what I've been through, and my secrets can be very disturbing." He had anger in his voice more than anything. Whitepaw felt bad, for either telling him about her knowledge or just knowing these things.

Whitepaw spoke before she could stop herself. "But maybe there's a bright side. You don't need to keep a secret from most other cats. You know that some cat accepts you for doing those things. And one that accepts you for wanting to leave the clan for Half Moon." She felt a nervous shiver go through her as she regretted saying that last thing.

Jayfeather looked at the she-cat in the eye with his angered, blind ones. "Of course you would! Your just some dumb Twoleg who decided to show up, and you just happened to know our secrets!"

"Hey, hold on! For your infor-"

Jayfeather interrupted her, sounding like he regretted saying what he had said. "You know what, just drop it. Forget what I said."

Whitepaw would usually just be silent and obedient, but her anger and thoughts got the better of her. "You know what? No! I know you're upset that some cat, who to you is dumb, knows your life. But it's not like I expected to be here in the first place and let you all know that I know things!" That was partially a lie; she wanted and pretended to expect herself to turn up in the world in the first place, but couldn't remember that at the moment.

Jayfeather stood on all fours, fur bristling. "Whitepaw, calm down. I didn't exactly mean what I said."

"What do you-" Whitepaw stopped herself. She looked back on the argument that had just taken place, and realized that she had spoken her thoughts. _What did I do?_

Whitepaw felt horrible for snapping. On extremely rare occasions, she would get so angry as to where she was one second close to speaking her thoughts to the person that was yelling at her, an adult or someone her age. She would realize her mistake mid-sentence and either apologize or try to leave the conversation. This was the first time she spoke her thoughts like that.

Whitepaw spoke after many heartbeats of silence. "I'm...sorry. I...I'm sorry for that..."

Jayfeather didn't do anything for a while, and Whitepaw just sat down staring at the ground in her own thoughts. It wasn't very long until Jayfeather said, "Are_ all _Twolegs like this? Do they always have arguments like this?"

"I don't know. It would make sense that it would be just me, but I don't know."

Silence. Nothing happened during that pause. Nothing was heard except the forest around them. Not even Jayfeather continued the argument, he only stared off into space.

Whitepaw was the first to speak up after along while, realizing that she was still in a clan, who also needed a medicine cat. "I think we should head back." Jayfeather looked at Whitepaw, and nodded.

The two were about three mouse-lengths away from each other as they headed back to camp. They both looked away from each other, and they didn't talk. They could hear their paw steps, the trees, the wind, and the lake splashing water along the shores. There was no hostility drifting about, but it was something that Whitepaw couldn't describe. Maybe a...disturbing calmness, she wasn't sure.

They had finally reached camp, and Whitepaw slowed down so she could let Jayfeather through the camp barrier first. He pulled through the thorn wall, and Whitepaw followed after him. They were about to go to their dens when Jayfeather commented on the little event that had happened.

"Whitepaw, you're odd. I don't know if that is good or bad yet, but you just...are."

Whitepaw said something too. "I know." That wasn't a lie. She moved away from that subject and said, "You know, now that you know that I know things, you can talk to me about them. You have that option now."

Jayfeather looked up at her for a moment. He at last turned away towards the medicine den. Whitepaw didn't know whether or not he was thinking about it, declining it, or StarClan knows what else...

Whitepaw was about to return to her den when she had a strange feeling, as though someone was watching her. She looked around and saw that very few cats were literally staring at her, cats who had witnessed the moment. She couldn't tell who because their pelts were hidden among the crowd, but she knew pairs of eyes were gazing at her. She trotted through the clearing and into the apprentice den.

She found Cherrypaw in there, looking around in the center of it. The ginger cat looked the den entrance, and then at Whitepaw. The cat looked relieved to see the Twoleg as she walked around the nests to the older apprentice.

"Thank StarClan you're here! Millie told me that Jayfeather had taken you out for medicine cat duties, I don't know why, but you seemed to take forever! I came in here to look for you not long before now."

The mention of Millie reminded Whitepaw of her training schedule. She asked, "Wait...what time is it?"

"What?" The younger cat tilted her head to one side in confusion.

_Oh yeah, I don't think they have heard that phrase. _Whitepaw turned around, stepped outside, and looked up into the sky. Many of the clouds have cleared and the sun was able to be shown. It was sunhigh, maybe a bit later. She realized why Cherrypaw would have looked for her, since she wasn't back beforehand.

The apprentice turned around and reentered the den. "Oh, it's time for training, I guess. Do you know what we're doing?" She asked, looking down at Cherrypaw.

"We're going to learn to climb trees. Have you ever climbed a tree when you were a Twoleg?"

Whitepaw hesitated. "Not exactly. I have only climbed trees with low branches."

"Then this'll be your first time! You, Molepaw, and I are going to learn how to climb trees using our claws." The apprentice unsheathed her claws for visualization.

Whitepaw groaned inwardly. She imagined it was going to feel like her claws are being ripped out by clinging to the bark. Yet, it would be nice to have a hiding spot in the trees with a view over the forest; although, of course, she would need to also learn how to get down.

Whitepaw exited the den, immediately meeting Millie standing a few paw-steps away. The silver cat said, "Now that you're here, we may go." Behind her mentor, Molepaw appeared. Millie walked away in the direction of the camp exit, the three apprentices following afterwards.

As they exited, Rosepetal and Foxleap came along. Whitepaw began to think about their training exercise.

_Maybe it won't be like having my claws being ripped out...it could just be like a climbing wall. And I hope whatever tree I'm on won't be too high. And that none of the trees would have a squirrel or bird to mess me up. And..._

Whitepaw randomly jumped to the subject what Jayfeather had said._ 'Whitepaw, you're...odd'. _Jayfeather wasn't wrong, and-

The group halted, making Whitepaw stop mid-thought. They had gotten to a place where trees looked to be clumped up together, close enough to have their branches touching. Millie, Foxleap, and Rosepetal went up to the nearest tree while the apprentices watched the demonstration.

Foxleap stood aside while Millie began; Rosepetal seemed to be the visualization. "First thing you have to do for this is to find a tree with this bark, since this is your first time." She flicked her tail towards the tree's bark to show which kind of bark is the easiest to grip. "Next, you simply jump up and dig your claws deep enough into the tree so that you can cling on."

Rosepetal jumped onto the tree and inserted her claws into the bark, gripping strongly so she wouldn't fall. Millie continued. "While climbing, you would climb in a walking motion as shown." Rosepetal placed her left front paw higher on the bark, and quickly after, she placed her right hind leg higher up. Eventually, she started to climb in a smooth motion.

Millie said, "Lastly, you may keep climbing, or jump the rest of your way up. You jump by launching yourself upward. As you are pulling yourself up, you release your front paws from the tree and give yourself an extra boost with your hind legs." Rosepetal visualized Millie's words.

After Rosepetal had gotten onto a branch, Millie explained how to get down the tree. Afterwards, the apprentices found a tree of their own and practiced climbing them.

Whitepaw found hers and tried to climb it. But once she unsheathed her claws and tried to get a grip, she slipped right back down. Millie came over to help her a few times before the white apprentice was able to hold on. Once she did, Whitepaw climbed up the tree without any problem. She reached the top and scrambled onto a branch.

Whitepaw took a glance down and noticed she was a bit high off the ground, high enough for her to want to hold on tightly to the branch. She thought back on the instructions on how to get down, and figured she was low enough to despite of the illusion of being high up. With little hesitation, Whitepaw jumped down safely. Whitepaw and the apprentices climbed and jumped off a few more trees before training ended for the day.

While they were heading back to camp, Whitepaw was telling Molepaw and Cherrypaw a 'G-rated' version of a video called 'Malk' after the younger cats had begged her enough for another story. Even though a video wasn't a story, it was still something to tell.

Whitepaw told herself this would be the last time to tell about a Twoleg thing, since she was breaking her promise. "...and then Josh's other friend said, 'The man wants a glass of mulk." And then they all get into this argument and yell at each other. They end up threatening each other that they'll through soaked sponges, that are like moss, for no reason at this point."

Whitepaw stopped the story to laugh for a moment. While she was, Molepaw asked, "So, how is this funny?"

"Because their getting into an argument over the pronunciation of the word 'milk'."

Cherrypaw said, "If you think _that's_ funny, then you haven't heard_ this_ before."

Whitepaw stopped her story as she and Molepaw listened to Cherrypaw as they walked on back to the camp.

**Well what'd'ya know, I finished it a day later.**

**I was thinking about that video right now, so I thought "why not put it in the story for the heck of it?".**

**Um, let's just call this a late Christmas gift. Too bad this isn't in the setting of Christmas yet. But whatever. Bye for now!**


	10. Chapter 10

Whitepaw bit down into a squirrel, while Blossomfall was eating a vole. The clearing was filled with their clanmates talking about the upcoming Gathering that night. Whitepaw was sure she would go this time ever since her first one, and the one after. Her second Gathering was almost a complete copy of her first. Each of the clans gave news about them surviving well, and Blackstar did his list of the dead.

Jayfeather had come up with his own way of remembering the spirits of ThunderClan cats from the battle. He had taken a branch and put in different sized claw marks in it to represent different cats, very much like Rock's record branch. It is now sitting next to the leader's den, where every cat could see it. Whitepaw gazed at the branch. She knew she couldn't remember each mark by name, but she can remember the cats regardless.

Lilypaw and Seedpaw passed on by with Poppyfrost and Bumblestripe. The two young cats had just turned into apprentices a quarter moon ago. The ceremony was usual, and Whitepaw was glad to chant with the rest of her clanmates during the event. Poppyfrost had become Lilypaw's mentor, and Bumblestripe become Seedpaw's mentor.

The weather had fully changed the forest, having the trees' leaves turn red, orange, and brown. Mounds of fallen leaves grew each day, and the other four apprentices seem to love to jump into them, sometimes getting scolded by their mentors for acting like kits.

Whitepaw finished up her prey and got up. Blossomfall had finished her meal too and accompanied Whitepaw on a walk. They walked across camp, passing Purdy who was lying outside in a patch of sunlight granted by the clear, afternoon sky. He lazily waved his tail, and the she-cats returned the gesture.

Whitepaw and Blossomfall passed the now-softened thorn barrier out into the forest. Dying patches of grass was mixed with green grass as the she-cats padded ontop of it, crunching fallen leaves as well. Gentle wind was heard as it blew through their fur and the forest. The wind wasn't heard anymore as Blossomfall began meowing questions to Whitepaw.

The warrior had her tail kinked across her back as she spoke. "Do you and your family do anything during Leaf-fall?"

Whitepaw simply said, "Depending on what moon this is, I would celebrate Halloween or Thanksgiving right about this time."

Blossomfall twitched her ear. "And those are...?"

"Halloween, or All Hallow's Eve, is when evil spirits are supposed to roam the earth. Twolegs dress up as monsters, or anything, so that the spirits won't harm them. But I'm pretty sure most people don't believe in that anymore. And then young Twolegs go from den to den saying, 'Trick or Treat'. They then get candy afterwards."

Blossomfall flinched. "_Are_ there any spirits that travel on Halloween?"

Whitepaw shook her head. "Not that I know of. Anyway, Thanksgiving is supposed to be the day where you be with your family and have a feast."

"I have a few questions." Blossomfall started. "What is candy, and why do you ask from other Twolegs for it?"

Whitepaw _mrrowed_ with laughter. "Candy is a type of food with lots of sugar and calories, in which sugar is a type of food, sort of, and a calorie is some sort of energy of heat or something that comes with most food. And the reason you beg people for candy is because there was a tradition where on the same day, people would beg for soul cakes, which are just a type of sugary candy."

Blossomfall looked to hesitantly nod in partial understanding. She then asked, "What exactly do you 'dress up' as?"

"I usually dress up as a witch. A witch is a Twoleg that wears a pointy hat and a dress, and casts spells with her wand." Whitepaw noticed the non-understanding look in Blossomfall's face. "Oh. Um...a hat and a dress are clothing, and a wand is a stick." Blossomfall nodded.

Out of nowhere, the warrior blurted out, "So, what do you think of the cats that trained in the Dark Forest?"

Whitepaw wondered why she asked such an abnormal question, but put the thought aside. "Which cat? The ones who decided to join the Dark Forest's side had different reasons. If your talking about Breezepelt, then I wouldn't forgive him. He knew what he was getting himself into. If your talking about ThunderClan, then that's another story."

Blossomfall unkinked her tail and flicked it a bit. "Yeah, ThunderClan cats. What do you think of them?"

"Well, I don't blame Thornclaw, Birchfall, or Mousewhisker. They thought they were getting better training. I don't blame Ivypool either because she had a personal issue and liked the attention she was getting from one of the Dark cats." Whitepaw tried to be careful with explaining Ivypool, since she didn't want to give away personal information.

"And for_ you_," she said. "You wanted attention from Millie. And so you took the choice of going to the Dark Forest because you liked the attention. To me, the choice you made resembles suicide. I don't think any of you realized what you we're doing anyway."

Blossomfall didn't say anything for a while. Whitepaw guessed Blossomfall wanted to hear someone's opinion about the warrior being in the Dark Forest. Yet it wasn't a big deal, right?

"Thank you for saying that." said Blossomfall. "You have no idea how nice it feels to have some cat say that." She stopped walking.

Whitepaw was confused as she paused her pace. "Why?"

"You don't know? Ever since the Great Battle, ThunderClan hasn't been the same. The cats who trained in the Dark Forest, and I, have been shunned by the rest of ThunderClan. Not all cats, but many treat us as if we were truly loyal to the enemy. Before you came, Bramblestar had a meeting with the other leaders about what to do with us and the so called 'traitors' from the other clans. We were unpunished, but my clanmates weren't any friendlier to us. My family had forgiven me, though." She turned away from Whitepaw, looking ashamed.

Whitepaw didn't know what to say. She didn't know that the clan would act this way, let alone think that their clanmates were traitors. She would be the only one to know that they were all loyal to ThunderClan, and were just tricked.

The subject made the apprentice think of something: what did the clan think of Whitepaw? The thought was made into a question. "Blossomfall," Whitepaw began, "What does the clan think if _me_?"

The warrior looked down for a moment before answering. "Do you really want to know?"

The phrase oddly took Whitepaw back into a memory. Whitepaw pushed it away before she could recall the events. The apprentice nodded.

"Alright. I hear-"

"Wait!" Whitepaw meowed abruptly, changing her mind. "Never mind. I don't want to know. They can think of me whatever they want. As long as I don't know, I won't dwell on it..."

Blossomfall stared at her with shock. "But, don't you want to know what everyone thinks of you? To know how to fix it?"

"That depends. Are there any positive things they say?" Whitepaw inquired, irritated.

Her friend opened her mouth, but then closed it. Whitepaw didn't have a problem with the clan thinking badly of her, it just made her think of an unwanted memory.

The white she-cat flicked her honey tail tip at Blossomfall and said, "How about we talk about something else while we head back to camp?"

* * *

Bramblestar stood at the thorn barrier at the camp entrance as he shouted the names of the cats leaving for the Gathering. Blossomfall and Whitepaw were picked yet again, along with Seedpaw, Lilypaw, Bumblestripe, and others. It wasn't long before the Gathering group formed and walked out into the night.

No clouds were seen in the sky and the stars shown brightly with the full moon; it was perfect to be outside. The autumn trees and their multicolored leaves were dark, but still seen. The group walked among fallen leaves, making them crunch.

Whitepaw began to talk to the new apprentices. They seemed to be excited to talk with a Twoleg, and asked many questions in the chat.

"What was it like to be in the clans the first time? We weren't able to see you when you came." asked Lilypaw who was walking on the right of the older apprentice.

"Yeah! And how did you know it was the clans?" asked Seedpaw, who was on the other side of Whitepaw.

"Okay, news reporters. I knew it was the clans because I was able to recognize the scenery. And I felt both excited and confused when I appeared on WindClan territory."

"Did StarClan explain why you were here?" questioned Lilypaw.

Whitepaw decided it would be okay to say what actually happened. "They said that they did purposely take me here to be in the clans, but there was a catch. I have to learn a lesson."

Whitepaw had forgotten about that last part for a while, and thought she would learn it eventually. But so far, she hadn't. But she didn't blame StarClan for their simple message; it's not like she can learn something by being told it.

Seedpaw commented, "So you need to figure it out? I think it's friendship!"

_Not again with the friendship_. And then Lilypaw played with the idea, too. "No, silly! She already has friends! Maybe she needs to learn what it's like to be a warrior!"

Whitepaw took the idea into consideration. "You might be on to something. I guess I'll have to wait many more moons."

Just then, Jayfeather came up behind them and said, "And I don't think you should be telling something of StarClan's business."

Lilypaw and Seedpaw looked at each other, knowing they are caught, and then ran up ahead in the crowd. Whitepaw slowed down so the medicine cat could catch up to her. Jayfeather scolded Whitepaw. "You shouldn't really be talking about that to other cats."

"I know, but my appearance isn't as important as a prophecy. Though, it would be nice for everyone not to know that I only came to learn something. But Lilypaw and Seedpaw were the only ones to ask it."

Jayfeather twitched an ear. Whitepaw changed the subject. "So, anything new from StarClan?"

"Not that I know of. But good thing, though. We don't need any more battles to go through."

Whitepaw kinked her tail. "Yes, I don't think that would be very handy for your supply." she said, jokingly.

"Of course not."

An awkward silence came. Whitepaw was the first to break it. "So, do you think anything interesting will happen at the Gathering?"

Jayfeather answered, "I don't think so. I wouldn't want anything exciting to happen. All the clans need are a few seasons of nothing but peace."

Whitepaw was about to mention the summary of the upcoming 'Bramblestar's Storm' book, but decided she shouldn't worry Jayfeather. Her explanation for what happens in the book would be like StarClan giving him the message; she wouldn't have all the details.

Jayfeather walked away from Whitepaw, leaving her in the back of the traveling group. They were long past ThunderClan territory, and are about to tread on RiverClan's. The island was in sight as they walked along the lake's shore. They walked on and eventually spotted the barn, seeing no activity.

Whitepaw looked over to the house near the barn, and got reminded of the Twoleg incident. She wondered what they were doing now, but figured they were listening to music right then. Music. Whitepaw stopped walking. _What?_

Whitepaw looked over to the source of the noise. It really _was _coming from the house. The apprentice strained her ears to be sure. _Yep, they are definitely listening to music._ Whitepaw was about to catch up with the group when she suddenly heard talking and laughing.

_No, I am not wandering off again to do some sort of Twoleg activity. _Whitepaw noticed that the group was far from where she was, and then ran to join back with them. She was half way there, but halted once she saw something in the corner of her eye. She looked to her left to see Halloween decorations hanging from trees not too far away.

_Forget it. They can come looking for me after the Gathering_. She turned around and ran straight to where the decorations were. They were paper pumpkin lanterns lit up in the trees, and purple and black streamers hung around them. Whitepaw slowed down as she looked at them on the way to the house.

She knew she would be in huge trouble once she was found missing, but took the chance out of curiosity. The music she heard earlier was now louder and clearer. Eventually, she was able to recognize it to be the song 'Monster Mash'. Whitepaw began to think that today was actually Halloween.

The she-cat found her way to the front of the house, where more decorations were. Multicolored flashing lights from the inside were shining outside into the darkness. Whitepaw got curious enough to walk up closer to the house.

The front of the house has a door with two steps leading up to it, and two windows on each side of the door. The building was painted white, and a rock path layed out from a thunderpath, which was about three fox-lengths away, to the door. Grass was on the property, and foam graves were placed on it.

Whitepaw couldn't help but want to gaze through the windows. She padded past the graves and up to the window ledge on the left side of the door. She silently jumped up to it and peeked through the window.

The inside of the house was insanely alive with people dancing, laughing, and talking. The music was as loud as ever when Whitepaw got up to the ledge. The flashing lights came from a small Ikea disco ball attached to the ceiling. It glowed brightly as it shot red, green, and blue colored beams into the room. A TV was seen straight ahead, on a channel that played the music.

Furniture like a couch and a coffee table were placed in the room, along with decor such as a lamp and a red rug. Even more Halloween stuff was inside, but only orange and purple lights were strung across the ceiling and paper pumpkins were plastered on the wall.

Only a minute of observation passed before the music turned off, and the disco ball stopped. and Whitepaw heard a teenage girl say, "Hey everyone! Gather around the TV!"

Whitepaw's eyes widened. She_ heard_ it. She looked behind her to see if any other cat was there who might have said it instead, but there wasn't. She thought,_ Did I just hear a Twoleg talk? _She just sat there thinking about that, and ended up coming to a conclusion that she was a Twoleg and was able to understand the language even in cat form. She would need to say something when she got back.

_When I get back! What was I thinking? I need to go..., _Whitepaw thought. She was about to pounce off the ledge when she was caught back by the words, "Who wants to watch a movie?"

Whitepaw paused her movement, and then went back into her sitting position._ It wouldn't hurt to watch a few minutes of something..._

But her hopes were crushed when a teenage boy jumped up, pushed the girl aside, and said, "Forget that! I'm about to play Slender! Feel free to watch it on the TV when I hook it up to do that."

"Kyle, what the heck?", shouted the girl.

"Well I'm sorry if watching a HalloweenTown is a bad idea. This night is supposed to be scary. It's freaking Halloween!"

_So it is Halloween! And come on Kyle, let us watch some HalloweenTown_. The two teens began to argue. It lasted for a few minutes before it came to an end. Jennifer was yelling at him the whole time when he was calmly intimidating her with a mocking voice.

The girl said, "Just because you're in charge of the house for the night doesn't mean you can boss me around! I'm sixteen!"

"Oh, Jennifer." The boy said, speaking in a jokingly sincere voice. "It's such a shame to see you so angry. But you wouldn't want to let your friends know the secret."

Jennifer's eyes widened for one second before hiding her shock. "Fine. Play your dumb game." She crossed her arms and walked out of sight.

Kyle messed with some wires behind the TV for a bit, and then an image appeared on the TV screen. It was of the Slender start screen. Whitepaw knew what Slender was, but only played it once or twice.

Kyle walked to an unseen part of the room. A camera in the corner of the TV screen showed his face. He then took control of the mouse and clicked the start option. The game had begun when he landed in a forest. Whitepaw began to nervously watch as he began to walk his character.

_The character treaded on in a dark, noiseless forest. Trees were all the player could see, except for the sky, which had stars faintly shown. Nothing was threatening...yet. It was only until the player quickly found a page when a booming sound in the distance began._

_The page had a tall stick figure drawn on it, and the words 'no' were written around it. It was only one out of eight, and the others would be tough to find in such darkness. Not only that, but the page had summoned the Slenderman._

_The player walked on until he found striped tanks in an open field. The large structures stood in rows, about six or seven rows with four in each of them. The player walked around them until he picked up another page, one that had the sentence 'don't look or it takes you'. Nothing else happened, and the booming noise continued._

_By the time the person exited the structures, a being was seen hidden with the trees. It was tall, and had a black suit on. It's face was pale white, and didn't move. It was the Slenderman. It stared at the player and made the screen static. It stopped once the player turned and ran the opposite direction of the thing._

_The static faded away and the hunt for the other six pages began again. The Slenderman was close by, but not much of a danger to the character yet. The player eventually found their way to the maze-like building. He looked inside and went through hallways until they found the third page, which was the stick figure surrounded by trees instead of words._

_The player had a bit of trouble of exiting the place while trying to avoid being cornered by the monster lurking close by. He found an exit and continued. The booming sound got louder._

_After many more findings of pages, the character had only one left to find. An addition to the booming sound was made, an eerie note was played along with it. After he had collected the seventh, a wind-like sound was made. The character only had minutes to find the very last page._

_The Slenderman had almost captured the player before he spotted three large boulders ahead. With the power he had left, he sprinted a short distance to them, and skirted the outer edge of the boulders. Suddenly, the Slenderman spoke the word, "Whitepaw."_

"Whitepaw? Whitepaw!"

Whitepaw jumped from fright. She was so startled from hearing her name, she fell off the ledge and landed on her side, facing the trees she came from. The only words that came out of her mouth was, "What in StarClan's name was that!"

"Whitepaw! Why are you here? Are you okay?"

The white she-cat fixed her gaze on the source of the call. It was a cat, and not Slenderman. Whitepaw felt a cold shiver up her spine, and felt as if color had drained from her face. The cat was Blossomfall.

"Blossomfall...um...hi?" said Whitepaw, sheepishly.

Blossomfall had more concern than anger in her voice when she spoke. "Whitepaw? What are you doing here? I couldn't find you at the island, and so I thought you got lost on the way there. But...I didn't expect you to be here!"

Whitepaw explained, sort of. "Um...I heard...music. And...I...um...hi?" She wore a pathetic smile, but she undid it when Blossomfall's face turned serious

Whitepaw got up from the ground and shook her pelt of sticking grass. "I'm sorry." She looked at her friend for a second before staring at the ground. "I heard music and went towards it. I found that these people were having a party and decided to stay and watch. I'm sorry I didn't attend the gathering and wandered off, again."

Blossomfall wasn't any less sympathetic. "Do you know what Bramblestar will do when-"

"Don't you think I know?" Whitepaw snapped. She realized what she said and took it back. "Sorry. I knew I was going to be in trouble, but I figured I would have walked to the island before the gathering was over so I can pretend I was sitting in the bushes or something." She added, "And before you say 'you were wrong', just don't. Okay?" Hearing how harsh her last sentence was, she lastly said, "Sorry."

Blossomfall stood there gathering in what Whitepaw said, but continued on from her last words. "Alright. But you shouldn't have been here in the first place."

"Can you just skip the scolding before it gets me in a bad mood, please?" Whitepaw said, irritated.

"Fine, then. Let's just head back before the gathering ends." She looked up in the sky, looking at the moon, and then back down to Whitepaw. "We can tell Bramblestar what happened on the way back, okay?"

"Fine."

The two she-cats were about to head into the forest when a commotion from the crowd inside the house began. "I freaking got all eight pages! In your face Jennifer! Give me 20 dollars, now!"

Unable to resist, Whitepaw turned around and ran to the window ledge to see what was going on inside. Blossomfall shouted, "Whitepaw! What in StarClan's name are you thinking?"

The apprentice ignored her, jumped onto the ledge, and sat down. Jennifer was giving Kyle money. The crowd was giving comments about the little event that was happening.

Blossomfall's paw steps were heard rushing onto the grass and under the window ledge. She jumped up and sat down next to Whitepaw. "Are you crazy? We have to go back now!"

Whitepaw was cowering a bit from what her friend said, and after realizing she went back. "Sorry, I had to know what was happening."

Whitepaw looked through the window. Kyle was looking at the money he got, and Jennifer looked as though she wanted to smack him.

"Well I just hope you run into a batch of black cats tonight!" stated Jennifer.

As if on queue, Kyle noticed Blossomfall and Whitepaw looking through the window. He laughed.

"Yeah right! Looks like I got a couple of angel cats instead!" said the teen boy. He fell over and kept on laughing.

"Darn it! Why couldn't you have been black?" cried Jennifer.

A random teen in the crowd commented, "That's racist!"

"Shut up." Jennifer crossed her arms in annoyance.

Blossomfall looked nervous, while Whitepaw wanted to face palm herself from the conversation she just witnessed. Suddenly, a little girl in a night gown came out of nowhere and ran to the window. Whitepaw flinched, and Blossomfall yelped.

The girl gasped. "It's the cat I saw when I was near the forest!" She pointed to Whitepaw. As soon as Whitepaw recognized the kid, she and Blossomfall exchanged glances. It was the little girl from the Twoleg incident! Whitepaw didn't comment on it, and focused her gaze through the window along with Blossomfall.

Kyle had finished laughing. He got up from the floor and went over to the window to get a good look at each cat. Blossomfall whispered, afraid, "Let's run before they get us!"

"Don't worry, their not going to get us." Whitepaw replied, in a not-so-whispery voice.

"How do you know?" The warrior said suspiciously.

Whitepaw told about her new ability with ease. "Somehow, I am able to understand what Twolegs are saying."

Blossomfall's eyes widened. Before she could comment, Kyle said, "This was well worth my time." He said sarcastically. He looked over to the kid. "Quinn, you're supposed to be in bed anyway!"

"I couldn't sleep because of the music!" Quinn whined.

Whitepaw looked over to Blossomfall. "This is getting boring. Let's get back to the others." The warrior nodded.

They both jumped off the window ledge and walked into the small abundance of trees. The she-cats walked silently toward the direction of the island. Whitepaw knew she would be getting one of the worst punishments yet, but she shouldn't quickly assume; every assumption she makes is either exaggerated or ends up becoming an endless daydream.

The cats reached the path that was usually taken to get to the gathering. They went along it and continued.

Eventually Blossomfall broke the silence and said, "Why did you go there? I thought you learned your lesson when you were dawdling around with a Twoleg."

Whitepaw didn't think of an answer right away, and just said whatever came out if her mouth. "Well...I couldn't help myself when I heard music. I might have just had a peak if it was all that is. But I kind of got sucked in to wanting to watch the Twolegs play their games."

"Are you saying you miss being a Twoleg?

Whitepaw sighed. "I don't know."

**Yep, I took another time skip and got to Halloween. ****Whitepaw, Whitepaw, Whitepaw. Only StarClan knows what kind of punishment she'll get.**

**Thank you for all the follows, favorites, and reviews! Bye!**


	11. Chapter 11

"What do you mean 'I don't know'?" asked Blossomfall.

Whitepaw sighed. "There are two things about a Twoleg life: the good thing is that it grants so much fun and relaxation, but the bad thing is that I don't feel like doing the work I need to do to earn it."

The two friends walked along the dirt path to the gathering island, which wasn't that far off. Crickets chirped all around and the only other noise was the soft waves going up and down the shore. The moon had only moved along a small distance in the star-filled sky, barely having anyone notice time had passed.

Blossomfall and Whitepaw kept going, their tails swaying behind them. Whitepaw's answer was confusing to her friend, and wasn't understandable to the warrior either. Even Whitepaw wasn't too sure about it.

After a bit of silence, Blossomfall asked, "Can't you just do what you have to?"

"That's the thing. I don't know why I don't want to do the work. Maybe it was something I did when I was younger, or I think I'll always get away with little effort. I think part of the problem is..." She trailed off on her empty thought, and instead changed the subject. "Never mind."

"Alright..." Blossomfall didn't continue the talk, and looked forward while Whitepaw looked down.

Whenever Whitepaw tried to figure out why she didn't want to do her work, is because she kept over thinking it and made her more frustrated. So in the end, she would just do whatever she wanted. But it always ended in a bad result of not getting something done, such has homework.

The she-cats had padded all the way to the tree-bridge. Blossomfall went up to its roots and clawed her way to the top. She balanced as best she could on the smooth platform and began to make her way across. Whitepaw quickly followed after her.

Whitepaw jumped onto the bridge. Her mind wandered as she crossed it. _What will Bramblestar say? How mad will he be? What will the clan think? _Questions buzzed around Whitepaw's mind, all of them left unanswered as she followed her friend along the smooth surface of the trunk.

Whitepaw then noticed she made it to the island as she unfocused her mind from her thoughts. She jumped off the fallen tree and caught up with Blossomfall, who was waiting right outside of the trees. When the two friends met, they entered the tiny forest together towards the Gathering clearing.

As they walked, Whitepaw began to hear a voice up ahead, assuming it to be a she-cat's. After going further, it was indeed a she-cat, but it was the only voice heard. The apprentice figured it was Mistystar, since the Gathering would have already started. Soon enough, they were able to find the Gathering place when Whitepaw and Blossomfall saw tips of cats' ears a few fox-lengths from them.

The she-cats pushed past a few ferns and finally appeared in the very back of the Gathering clearing. Mistystar was speaking on top of a branch, but the nearby cats' watching below had been disturbed by the two, making them turn around. Whitepaw shrunk a little, and was glad that the cats just shrugged it off and turned back to the Great Oak.

Blossomfall flicked Whitepaw's back to signal the apprentice to follow. The two skirted the outside of the crowd to go to the other side of it, which Whitepaw assumed was where ThunderClan was. They got glances from other clan cats, but the friends ignored them, or in this case, Blossomfall ignored them and Whitepaw felt disturbed by them.

They eventually made it to the ThunderClan side of the clearing. They found a spot in the back and sat down next to each other. Apparently, Mistystar had finished talking by then, and backed away to let another leader speak.

Whitepaw and Blossomfall watched as the WindClan leader stepped forward. Onestar said, his voice being heard clearly, "WindClan has been doing well. Furzepelt had found an entire nest of full grown rabbits, five of them, which finally fed the whole of the clan. The finding had given us strength to continue looking for more resources to restore the clan back to normal." A few quiet, positive meows were heard from the WindClan crowd, before being quiet after a few seconds.

Bramblestar took his turn next. He went forward and Onestar went back. The tabby leader said, "ThunderClan has two new apprentices: Lilypaw and Seedpaw!"

Immediately, the names were being called out. "Lilypaw! Seedpaw! Lilypaw! Seedpaw!"

Almost every cat on the island chanted the name. Whitepaw chanted too, and so did Blossomfall. Whitepaw was able to see the two apprentices not too far from her, and they looked like they would explode from pride.

The clearing quieted down quickly, and Bramblestar continued. "Prey has begun to fill our territory once more, letting us believe to have a chance to live through this upcoming Leaf-bare."

Immediately, the Gathering ended. Bramblestar walked along his branch to the tree trunk and clawed his way down with the other leaders. The other clan cats split up into their clans and waited to be guided back to their territories by their leaders. Whitepaw and Blossomfall waited, since they were already with the rest of ThunderClan.

Eventually, the ThunderClan crowd began moving, and Whitepaw and Blossomfall followed. Whitepaw slowed down so she could be left alone in the back. She was quickly noticed by Blossomfall, who had stopped to let Whitepaw catch up with her. When Whitepaw caught up to her, the warrior said, "We still have to tell Bramblestar."

"Oh. Yeah." Whitepaw said, literally forgetting about that until remembering at that moment. She felt her stomach roll in circles as she and Blossomfall walked up towards the front of the group.

But before they reached the front, they had to cross the tree-bridge. All the cats crossed without trouble and followed the route to get back home. As soon as Whitepaw and Blossomfall crossed, they continued to catch up to their leader.

The she-cats reached Bramblestar, and Blossomfall was the one to say, "Excuse me, Bramblestar, may we speak with you?"

The tabby cat looked over to the warrior and nodded. He whispered something to the cat next to him, which was Squirrelflight, and then followed the two to the back of the crowd.

When they were alone in the back, Blossomfall nudged Whitepaw, notifying to talk to Bramblestar first. Whitepaw tried to say that her friend should say it, but all that came out of the apprentice's mouth was, "Um...could you...do, um...it. Please?" The more she spoke, the more she lowered her head and the quieter her voice got. She felt cowardly to have to tell someone else to speak for her.

Somehow, the warrior got her message. She said to Bramblestar, who was looking at them curiously, "Bramblestar," the leader brought his full attention to the warrior. "Whitepaw snuck away from the group when she heard 'music'. She followed it and saw Twolegs. She watched them doing...something, and I found her there when I noticed her absence."

_Talk about straightforward_, thought Whitepaw. Bramblestar sighed. "Excuse us, Blossomfall. I need to talk to Whitepaw alone." The tortoiseshell she-cat walked further up the crowd, far enough for the two to not be heard.

"Whitepaw," said Bramblestar. Whitepaw looked at the ground, ashamed. The leader began to say, "I thought you would keep your promise. But I see that you are still attracted to Twoleg-like things. Why did you break your promise? I thought you were more responsible than this."

_Don't get upset. Don't get upset. Don't get upset. Don't get upset._ The same phrase was said over and over again in Whitepaw's mind. She tried to talk, but she felt as if she was physically incapable to. She ended up just staring down at the ground and waited for everything to be over.

"Whitepaw, I know you can speak. Answer me." Bramblestar spoke in a calm, yet firm voice. He waited.

Whitepaw finally said, "Um...I...um..." Her mind went blank. What made it even worse was she had a familiar feeling with those words Bramblestar had just said.

The leader sighed. "How long were you gone?"

Whitepaw tried to think of the right words. "Um...I came back after Mistystar spoke."

"If you came back any later, I might have been more upset with you. I am very disappointed in you, Whitepaw."

_I'm sorry. I'm sorry. StarClan, I hate it when I get pressured and upset about these things._ Whitepaw kept having more and more arguments in her mind, making her more upset.

Whitepaw took a deep breath to calm herself down. Bramblestar finally said, "I will give you your punishment tomorrow. For now, think about what you've done." Bramblestar walked up ahead to take back the lead of the group.

By now, they were on between WindClan and RiverClan territory. The moon had gone down a bit, and the sky had a few clouds here and there. Whitepaw felt horrible for wandering off, and began to feel anxious to know what her punishment was.

_What if he confines me to the camp? What if he does that for a moon? That is the one punishment I don't want!_ Whitepaw wouldn't have known what she would do if she couldn't escape to somewhere quiet. That was one of the things she liked about going out into the forest alone.

Whitepaw saw that Lilypaw and Seedpaw were happily strolling to the back of the crowd, moving in the direction of Whitepaw. The two young cats walked on each side of the older cat, Lilypaw on the left and Seedpaw on the right.

"Hi..." Whitepaw said, unsure whether or not to enjoy the apprentices' appearances.

"What happened? Did you get in _trouble_?" Lilypaw teased.

The white she-cat answered honestly. "Yeah...but I don't know what my punishment is yet. I have to live with being anxious for the rest of the night." Whitepaw flicked her tail once or twice before listening to what Seedpaw was saying.

"Don't worry; whatever it is you did, you can live through whatever punishment he gives you." Seedpaw's words comforted Whitepaw, mostly for being her tone being reassuring and kind.

"Thanks."

Soon enough, the random Twoleg questions began to come up again from both Seedpaw and Lilypaw. Lilypaw was the one who brought it up first. "So...do you have a family? A littermate?"

"I have a sister, and a mom, or mother. My sister is three years older than me and had gone away for education. And my mother still lives with me. My father...he passed away when I was seven." Whitepaw was only aware of how open she was until she had finished speaking, but didn't really care.

"Oh, I'm sorry." Lilypaw said, sounding regretful for asking the question.

"Oh don't worry; I'm not upset about my dad anymore. Now, is there anything that you would want to ask me that isn't about my Twoleg life?" Whitepaw wasn't uncomfortable with the question, but it was, in fact, tiring to describe her Twoleg life.

"Ooh, I got one!" Seedpaw said. "What was the best thing that has happened here since you have arrived?"

Whitepaw couldn't just pick one thing, so she answered with, "Everything. Being here in the clans is the best thing that has happened to me." she added, "Though, it would be even more awesome if I became a warrior, too."

"I hope we become warriors after you, maybe even have you mentor us along with Bumblestripe and Poppyfrost!" said Seedpaw, cheerily.

Whitepaw felt so happy about the younger cats being kind to her, though she did always enjoy both kindness _and_ little kids; school seemed to lack kindness. Uncertain why she was questioning it, the apprentice asked, "Why are you guys being so nice to me? Aren't you supposed to think I'm weird and dangerous?"

Lilypaw immediately answered. "Why wouldn't we be nice to you? You were super nice to us when we were still kits! Remember that time you played with us?"

Whitepaw was confused about what she said until the white apprentice remembered a not-too-distant memory about meeting the two young cats as kits. They played together, along with Snowkit, Amberkit, and Dewkit, who are still kits at this point. Whitepaw considered at that moment to do it again if she ever remembered.

"I remember. I loved that!" Whitepaw left the comment open ended, not knowing how to complete it.

"We had fun too." said both Lilypaw and Seedpaw

They had seemingly walked with the Gathering group across WindClan, and were heading towards ThunderClan territory. Whitepaw, after knowing how close to the camp they were, suddenly felt the aching in her paws and the sleepiness from staying up. She was glad she would at least get some sleep that night.

All the cats jumped over the stream separating WindClan and ThunderClan, and onto their territory. It was quiet, except for a few conversations from the cats. Whitepaw slowed her pace to be alone in the back of the crowd. Lilypaw and Seedpaw saw her leave them, and got the message to go off and talk to some other cat.

Finally, they made it back to camp. Each cat slipped past the thorn barrier and split up to go to their dens. Whitepaw padded to the apprentice den and practically collapsed in her nest. Within a matter of minutes, she passed out.

Whitepaw woke up in a dark place. She was standing in the middle of a forest with a sky that had no stars. Whitepaw knew immediately where she was. _The Dark Forest? Is Mapleshade behind this?_ As if on queue, the ragged she-cat walked out of the shadow of the gloomy trees.

"I wasn't done with you." Mapleshade said, sounding irritated.

"Look, I didn't want be in your little plot. I still don't." hissed Whitepaw. But the apprentice's confidence against the ragged cat vanished. Since she wasn't outside of the forest, she was vulnerable. Even worse, she can get hurt.

"May I begin my deal with you without me wanting to rip your pathetic pelt off?" Mapleshade unsheathed her claws.

Whitepaw froze with fear, but that didn't stop her from feeling tough. "Fine. But don't expect me to want to do it. And I thought you already did something like this before."

"I have. But how else am I supposed to be able to do what I want, knowing who you are? I want revenge on those clans for defeating us."

Whitepaw was about to speak, but kept her jaws shut. The dark cat continued. "Since you know everything, and is an easy source for information, you would be most useful to me. Even though I don't have an army with me, I can still repeat what I was capable of many seasons ago when I had a RiverClan cat to look over."

The mention of seasons made Whitepaw realize how transparent looking the Dark Forest cat was. She commented, "Speaking of seasons of you being here, are you ever going to fade away?"

"In time, I will. But I will do whatever I can to have my final goal be complete." She continued explaining her plan. "I need a target for my vengeance. Tell me who is the most vulnerable. It doesn't even have to be from your clan."

Whitepaw interrupted an almost tempting thought to say someone from another clan, knowing it was a cruel thing to consider. She answered, "And what if I don't?"

"I will keep having you dream yourself here until you answer me. A punishment has been undecided if you refuse."

Whitepaw rolled her eyes in disbelief. "You can't do that _every _night. Wouldn't StarClan stop you?"

"They can. But I will keep trying to get information from you."

"This is crazy. I don't need you in my Warriors life. Why can't you bother someone else?" Whitepaw had a slight flash back into her Twoleg life as she said that phrase. She shook her head and ignored it.

"I could randomly pick a cat, but why not torture someone in the process?"

"Look, Mapleshade. I know what happened you a bunch of years ago, but that is no excuse to hurt others."

Mapleshade hissed. "If you know my past, then why be so harsh?"

"Because you still hurt others. And I read about it. You killed off an entire family, including Graystripe's mate. And you also killed off Spottedleaf. Do you expect me to be nice to you?"

Mapleshade tried to defend herself. "Shut up! Crookedstar broke my promise and Spottedleaf deserved it!"

Even if Mapleshade had her reasons, the defending ones Whitepaw had were better. "Crookedstar was mislead! And Spottedleaf never broke the code, and you had your own opinion about her saying she was fine without the one she loved!"

"If you really knew my story, then you should know I was driven out of my clan for falling in love when I see many cats these days get away with it! Shall I count them out?"

"May I just leave already?" Whitepaw blurted out. She was getting tired of arguing with the stubborn cat.

"Not until you tell me who is vulnerable."

"_No_." Whitepaw snapped.

"So be it." With those words, Mapleshade and the forest vanished into an ocean of black.

The apprentice woke up to sun shining onto her face and the memory of the dream faded away. Dawn had risen early that day. The she-cat lifted herself from her nest and sleepily walked outside. The clearing was alive with cats, as it is every morning.

Instead of grabbing a piece of fresh-kill, she decided to walk around the forest; unless, of course, Bramblestar told her to go on a patrol before she could even leave the camp. Whitepaw walked past every cat on her way to the entrance. She slide past the thorn barrier and made her way to her usual spot: the Sky Oak.

She walked along and began to have a conversation with herself, but this time she was speaking aloud. "Hm...what should I talk about? I could say something about the clan, but what?" She immediately found a topic. "When are they going to build a new den for the warriors? If I ever become a warrior, which would be near Bramblestar's Storm's place and time, I would like to be in a place where I can be pretty much _alone_."

Whitepaw stopped her self-conversation when she heard flapping wings above. She looked up and saw a robin perched in a nest. She immediately began to go up to the tree it was on and climb up it. She made as little noise possible as she then lifted herself onto the robin's branch. Her paws crept along the thick branch, unsheathed. Whitepaw took in a silent breath before taking a risky jump.

The apprentice's front paws successfully landed right onto the bird's back, but the branch started to shake a bit. Whitepaw froze in place until the branch steadied, which she then sighed in relief. She quickly nipped the bird's neck before it could have a chance to escape.

Once the bird had died, Whitepaw laid down on the thick branch. She kept hold of the bird while she rested comfortably stretched out. Her right leg and tail hung down as her left leg got a grip on the bark. Whitepaw just sat there for a while, making that her resting spot for the day.

She couldn't help but bounce her hanging leg up and down involuntarily, like she used to do during school. She laid there thinking about random things as she became instantly comfortable just doing that.

_Anything to do today?_ She was about to wonder if Bramblestar is looking for her to do a patrol when she remembered she _had _to meet with him. _Oh, mouse-dung! I completely forgot! _Whitepaw took the bird with her mouth and carried it down the tree. She landed safely on the ground and began to walk back to camp.

When she got to camp, she first went to the fresh-kill pile to deposit her one catch. When she did, she placed the bird down onto it and began to look around for Bramblestar, only to find him standing behind her.

She turned around to face him. "Sorry! I completely forgot!" Whitepaw said, defending her short absence.

"It's alright. Now that your here, I can tell you your consequence. But first I want to talk with you." Bramblestar swished his tail to signal Whitepaw to follow.

_Not again..._, Whitepaw thought. She reluctantly followed her leader back out into the forest.

When they had just passed the throne barrier, Bramblestar spoke. "Now, I don't want you to run off and do something like that again. I have decided that you will be confined to the camp for a quarter moon, and you will miss the next two Gatherings."

The apprentice's first thoughts were, _Make me miss the next three! I don't care about Gatherings!_ Whitepaw was horrified that she would be stuck in camp for an entire week. She would be hearing the talking of cats and not get any peace and quiet. The bright side is that she would probably be alone in the apprentice den most of the time, maybe.

"A quarter moon...stuck in camp...with cats!" cried Whitepaw.

"Don't worry, it's not the worst thing possible. I can't have you running off and showing loyalty elsewhere. You are in the clans and need to get used to it."

_Like I can get used to change! You are all lucky I was able to keep quiet and not get bothered by living outdoors. Speaking of me being able to handle the change of this place, maybe I was able to get used to being here, when I first got here, by the help of being a cat. I will never know..._

Whitepaw said, "I know. But it was tempting to see what humans were doing. I keep update with a lot of things. Oh, wait!" She then realized something. "I know this never happened before, but..." She trailed off, thinking the rest of her sentence instead of saying it out loud.

"What do you mean?" inquired Bramblestar.

"Nothing." Whitepaw thought of an idea of how not going to the Gathering would it better for her sake. She then dared to say, "How about I miss the next three Gatherings?"

"Pardon?" Bramblestar's head tilted to one side in confusion.

"Can I miss the next three Gatherings? Instead of having me being confined to camp, I just not go to Gatherings." Whitepaw hoped he agreed.

"You're asking me for a different punishment?" The leader seemed confused, but went along with it anyway. "Very well. You will not go to the next three Gatherings."

"Thanks!" Whitepaw smiled slightly.

Though she never mentioned it to anyone before, the Gatherings were a tad too loud for her. She just some how didn't get bothered by it yet to the point where she would feel...well...she couldn't exactly describe it.

"Before you get back to camp, and be placed on a hunting patrol," Bramblestar said. Whitepaw's ears flattened for a second in annoyance before lifting them up again. The leader continued. "I wanted to ask how you've been doing. I just wanted to check up on you now that I have the chance."

"I'm fine."

"Any friends?"

"Blossomfall, Cherrypaw, and Molepaw. And I could say Lilypaw and Seedpaw are only my acquaintances, since we aren't officially friends yet."

"But you talk to them. Surely they are your friends." inquired Bramblestar.

"My definition of acquaintances is that you talk to them, and know them, but don't really hang out with them _much. _So, yeah."

Bramblestar switched to a different topic. "Have you been okay? Any problems?"

"No." Whitepaw looked away from the tom, noticing they had circled around as they walked and were being led back to camp.

The tabby looked ahead and said, "Looks like we're back at camp. You can join the patrol consisting of Whitewing, Graystripe, and Brackenfur." He then walked past Whitepaw and entered the camp. Whitepaw followed after and looked for the patrol.

**Mapleshade has returned! Since I introduced her in the beginning, she needed to come back.**

**I guess it's no more Gatherings for Whitepaw for three moons. More peace and quiet for her!**

**Thank you for the reviews, favorites, and follows! Bye!**


	12. Chapter 12

Whitepaw launched forward with as much force as she could, but missed her target. She ended up tumbling across the mossy flooring of the training hollow, where she was practicing a fighting move. She stopped and dizzily tried to stand up again. She saw her mentor behind her, who had an expression of disappointment.

"You can do this! You've done it before, why can't you now?" meowed Millie, flicking her tail impatient. Whitepaw had tried this move twice when they got there and the third time obviously didn't go well.

Whitepaw said, using her usual excuse, "Sorry, I got distracted."

"Why are you so distracted? There is nothing to look at or think about during training. Let's try it one more time." Millie got into a defensive position. "Again, try _not_ to hesitate when doing this. You are just simply trying to claw one side of my flank, with sheathed claws, while I defend myself."

"Okay." Whitepaw got into a ready position. She was only distracted by her own thoughts. Not any negative thoughts, but just general thinking about things that have happened in the clan and thinking about Twoleg stuff.

Whitepaw waited a few seconds, thinking of the best possible route to do the move, and then charged at Millie. The mentor moved away before she could swipe her side even though Whitepaw had plenty of time to do so. Whitepaw felt the need to be careful for some reason, though it is perfectly okay to cause a bruise or two during training.

Whitepaw jumped at Millie again, but the older cat dodged it once more. Whitepaw ran around Millie, close enough where they were about a mouse-length from each other. Millie seemed a bit confused as she tried to swipe at her apprentice. Whitepaw suddenly stopped in a spot where Millie wasn't looking, swiped the silver cat's flank with both her paws, and then backed away. Millie noticed, and nodded in approval to Whitepaw.

Millie faced the apprentice and meowed, "Better. You used a rather odd technique, but I can honestly say that it's effective. Now, we should call this a day and head back. It's almost sunset." Both cats looked up to the sky for a second before leaving the hollow; Millie led and Whitepaw followed a bit behind.

The sky was beginning to get dark, since the sun had lowered, but no stars had appeared yet. Whitepaw and Millie began to walk to their camp silently. Whitepaw was thinking about how she needed to work better while training when she remembered the subject of singing. She immediately got an idea.

"Millie, I'm going to walk the forest a bit." Whitepaw informed, looking over to her mentor.

Millie looked behind her to Whitepaw. "Alright, but don't be out for long." Millie sped up her walking while Whitepaw turned the opposite way, heading towards the lake.

Whitepaw had gotten the idea to sing, since she hadn't for a while. She could sing well, to her anyway, but didn't know if anyone thought her voice was okay since she was too shy to sing in front of others. She could sing just about anything, but she often needed to work on the extremely high or low notes in certain songs.

She spotted her quiet spot up ahead and ran the rest of the way. She slowed down and walked around the side of the Sky Oak that was facing the lake until she found a patch of grass. She laid down on it.

Immediately, the apprentice went through the imaginary song list in her head. She first thought of a few dramatic songs, but they would have been too loud. She skipped through the sad and inappropriate songs, and left out most of the love songs. She finally settled on 'When Can I See You Again?'.

Whitepaw checked her surroundings, and then listened for a second for any noises that might be cats. She then double checked, to be sure no one was around. She finally took a deep breath before starting out slow and quiet. Her voice was so quiet to start that it was barely audible.

_When can we do this again?_

_When can I see you again?_

_When can we do this again?_

_When can I see you again?_

Whitepaw got used to it immediately and raised her voice as she went on. She could now hear her voice clearly. Whitepaw sang as best she could to the imaginary beat in her head.

_Switch on the sky and the stars glow for you._

_Go see the world 'cause it's all so brand new._

_Don't close your eyes cause your future's ready to shine._

_It's just a matter of time, before we learn how to fly._

_Welcome to the rhythm of the night_

_There's something in the air you can't deny._

_It's been fun but now I've got to go._

_Life is way to short to take it slow._

_But before I go and hit the road,_

_I gotta know, 'til then,_

She lifted her head up a bit high and sung the chorus.

_When can we do this again? Oh oh oh oh._

_When can I see you again? Oh oh oh oh._

_When can we do this again? Oh oh oh oh._

_I gotta know. When can I see you again?_

Whitepaw felt happy to hear a song again. She began to enjoy herself as she continued singing, but then she heard a ruffle in the bushes behind her. She stopped singing, and fell dead quiet. She was afraid someone might hear.

She reassured herself by looking behind her to see no cat. She assumed it was a bird, and then turned away to continue singing. She ignored the following noises.

When she had finished the entire song, she checked her surroundings again. She turned around, and felt relieved to find no one. She wondered if anyone was able to hear her from the camps, but didn't think about it.

After that little session, Whitepaw had decided to head back to camp and rest. But then thought of taking a detour from that to meet up with Lilypaw and Seedpaw, _if_ they were in the apprentice den. She got up and walked into the forest.

On here way there, the two younger apprentices reminded her of the kits, which then had her remember she wanted to visit them again. _Maybe I can go find Lilypaw and Seedpaw after I visit Amberkit, Snowkit, and Dewkit, _she thought_._

Whitepaw entered the camp, going straight to he nursery. She peeked in and saw Daisy carrying moss. The cream colored queen noticed the apprentice and nodded in greeting. Whitepaw looked around inside the thicket until she saw the three bundles of fur playing with a ball of moss. Whitepaw, even though she didn't want to interrupt their bit of play time, padded over to them.

Whitepaw smiled and spoke in a playful voice. "Hi. How you are guys doing?" The kits looked over to Whitepaw.

Amberkit was the first to speak. She was the one who currently had the moss ball, but let go of it to say, "Whitepaw! It's been _so _long since we've seen you!"

Dewkit padded up to the apprentice and meowed, "Did you come over here to play with us again?"

Whitepaw smiled warmly from the kit's friendly greetings. "Yeah, and to catch up on anything you guys might have done these past moons."

Snowkit stumbled over to Whitepaw. "Can we show you what we learned from the other apprentices?" Amberkit then joined her brothers.

Whitepaw tilted her head in confusion. "What do you mean?"

"Me and my littermates were playing outside, and Lilypaw and Seedpaw came up to us and taught us a bunch of apprentice stuff! Look, I can do a hunting crouch!"

The tiny, white kit crouched down with his paws scattered and his tail in a straight line. Whitepaw giggled at the improper pose.

Amberkit came over to Snowkit and teased him. "You look like a broken frog! How do you think you'll catch any prey like that?"

"This is the right way!" Snowkit said, defensively. "See!" The young cat tried to pounce, but barely went a mouse-length before he landed practically flat on the ground. Amberkit and Dewkit laughed out loud as Snowkit got up unhurt.

Snowkit stuck his tongue out at his siblings. Whitepaw said, "Don't worry about it, you just need to practice. Let me show you." Whitepaw posed in a correct hunting crouch. Snowkit tried to mimic it, but failed.

Whitepaw meowed, "Let me help you there." She undid her crouch and helped the kit by placing his paws into the correct position. Amberkit and Dewkit had stopped laughing by then, and followed the instructions as well. There were then three kits who were learning a hunting crouch.

Dewkit said, "How do we pounce?"

Whitepaw answered the question the best she could. "It's all in your hind legs. You need to leap with a force great enough to reach your prey, and a quick and silent aim so your prey won't realize you're behind them, and so they won't have a chance to run if they do." Whitepaw wasn't sure if she was saying anything correct, but didn't take back what she said and continued on. "Try it out."

Each of the kits pounced, but didn't quite do them perfectly. Amberkit shot sideways, Dewkit didn't land correctly, and Snowkit still couldn't jump very far. Whitepaw looked down at them, amused and impressed on how she was able to teach them something, but then a doubting thought came to her. _What in StarClan's name am I doing? Why am I teaching kits this? I should have just kept quiet and-_

"Did I do it okay?" said Dewkit, who had just walked up to her, along with Amberkit and Snowkit behind him. All three looked eager for an answer.

Whitepaw's thoughts vanished like the sun evaporating water. She looked down at Dewkit, smiled, and said what she thought was a kind, yet honest, answer. "You three did well for a first time. When you're apprentices, I bet you'll catch your first prey during you're first week-I mean quarter moon." _Not bad for an answer, I think._

The three kits smiled greatly, and then, in unison, said, "Thank you!" They then cheerfully ran back to their playing area and clawed at the moss ball as if nothing happened.

Whitepaw sighed, with both happiness and relief. When Whitepaw was about to leave, a soft voice from behind her said, "Good job."

Whitepaw jumped from surprise and whipped around to see Daisy sitting near a bare nest with two piles of moss next to it. Whitepaw had completely forgot that the queen never left the nursery.

Daisy got up and padded over to the apprentice and said, "You did a good job with those kits. It's like you've been around kits before many times over."

Whitepaw honestly said, "Sort of. I am just really good with little kids, or kits. Well, good with playing with them. Not caring or encouraging for them."

Daisy nodded. "It can be difficult to look over three kits, especially hyper ones."

Whitepaw nodded. "Yeah." Without doing anything to notify she was leaving, the apprentice slipped out of the den and walked, not knowing what to do next. She then checked the time by looking up into the sky. The sun was in the position of the afternoon.

Whitepaw then remembered that she wanted to find Lilypaw and Seedpaw. Whitepaw easily spot them, but they were with their mentors, and were heading in the direction of the camp entrance. Whitepaw didn't bother them, since she assumed that they were going on a dusk patrol or something.

She then went on to the apprentice den to rest. But she immediately got the idea to check on what Jayfeather was doing. Or Blossomfall. _Which one should I look for?_ Whitepaw sat down and gazed around the busy clearing and spotted both cats. Jayfeather was just entering the medicine den carrying moss, and Blossomfall was talking to other cats. Two situations that she didn't want to interfere with. Yet she could just go to sleep.

Whitepaw compared the situation to her Twoleg life. _You know, this is like when I'm browsing YouTube when I should be doing something else. I'm like, 'I'm just gonna check these few channels and then go to bed'. And then ten minutes later I'm still browsing YouTube. _She laughed for a second from the thought, and then calmed down and made an alternative choice.

_Maybe I can go find Molepaw and Cherrypaw instead._ When Whitepaw was about to check the apprentice den for them, Blossomfall blocked her way. The warrior looked to have hint of confusion as she spoke. "Can I see to the apprentice den with you?" Whitepaw nodded, agreeing since she could talk to one of her friends and check the den.

The two entered the apprentice den, but no one else was there. Whitepaw shrugged the apprentices off and decided to see them tomorrow. She laid down in her nest as Blossomfall sat on the ground next to her. They both sat in silence for a bit before Blossomfall spoke.

The warrior curled her tail around her paws as she looked at Whitepaw. "What were you doing?"

Whitepaw was confused. She asked, "What do you mean?"

"I was looking for you when I was in the forest, and I heard you. You were quite loud, and so I hurried to where you were meowing. Then I heard your voice much clearer-"

"Wait, what! You heard me _singing_?" Whitepaw said in shock. Whitepaw suddenly felt humiliated to have someone hear her do that.

"Singing? That's what singing is?" Blossomfall continued her story. "Anyway, Your voice was, well, singing. But it sounded weird. It sounded like you were talking, but you were raising your voice up and down. I don't know how to describe it, but it sounded nice for some odd reason."

Whitepaw sat up and explained. "Singing is the process of using your voice in different ways. As you said, you do raise your voice, lower it, have it high or low pitched, etcetera. You also use words to go along with your singing. I was singing a song called 'When Can I See You Again?'. I was singing it loudly so I can both hear it and make sure I was doing okay."

Blossomfall seemed to understand when she nodded, but then kept quiet in some sort of thought. Whitepaw waited for her friend to make a response. As she waited, Whitepaw looked outside and saw a few cats staring at her. Whitepaw looked away and hoped it wouldn't last.

Blossomfall finally responded. "I think I understand. And I'm sorry if this bothers you," she started, sounding guilty. "I told a few cats about what you were doing. I was just confused. I have never seen or heard anything like it."

Whitepaw didn't know whether or not to be mad or understanding. Putting two and two together, she said, "I just saw a few cats outside looking at me. Did you telling cats about me singing have anything to do with that?"

"Well, I guess they might have taken it the wrong way. I wouldn't blame them."

Whitepaw said, forgiving, "I don't blame you either for asking them." _I might as well not blame her or them, since some of these cats would think anything I do is witchcraft or something._

"Thank you." Blossomfall then got to her paws and began to walk out.

Before the warrior did, she asked, turning to Whitepaw, "Is it possible you can sing to me sometimes?"

Whitepaw shook her head. "I would probably freeze up and be speechless if I tried."

Blossomfall nodded in understanding and left. Even though sleep was still an option, Whitepaw then wondered what else could fill up her time, unless she was put on a dusk patrol before she found something. She then went back to the idea of seeing Jayfeather, and went along with it. She got up and made her way to the medicine den.

When she did, she peeked in through the bramble tendrils and saw Jayfeather in the medicine store. Whitepaw hesitantly said, "Hi."

Jayfeather didn't make any move to signal that he heard. He took out some leafy herb from the store and came out into the main cave. He then walked to a part of the room where Briarlight was sleeping, facing away from them; Whitepaw scolded herself for not noticing the disabled cat when she first peeked in. Jayfeather dropped the herbs near Brairlight's nest, and then looked over to Whitepaw.

"Yes? Do you need something Whitepaw?" Jayfeather said, in a casual voice for once. As he said that, Briarlight sat up, turned around, looked at the herbs and began to eat them up. Whitepaw didn't think about why she needed to, since she couldn't remember anything in the books that said that Briarlight had to do that.

"I just stopped by to see how you're doing." Whitepaw said. As soon as she said that, she thought,_ That just sounds unusual to say to a medicine cat. Oh well, it's too late._

"I'm fine. Now, is there anything important for you to speak to me with?"

_I had that one coming_. "Not really."

"Then I suggest you go join a dusk patrol." He then added, "Or do you need instructions on how to do that?" Jayfeather teased.

Whitepaw took no offense to that. "Oh ha ha. No, I don't." she said, jokingly.

Jayfeather replied, playfully, "Then go on." Whitepaw could have sworn she saw him have a small smile for one second.

"Okay." obeyed Whitepaw. She thought, _Well he's in a nice mood._

Whitepaw was about to back up to leave, when surprisingly, Briarlight called her back. "Wait, can I, uh, talk to you for a bit?"

Before Whitepaw could answer, Jayfeather said, "No, she cannot. I can't have two cats in here meowing while I check the medicine store." His attitude went back to its usual grumpy self.

"Then can I go outside to talk to her?" She seemed to have a hint of begging in her voice.

Jayfeather hesitated, and ended up giving in. "Fine. But I don't know if you're mother will approve of you going outside when it's about to be night. Especially since Leaf-bare is coming." He then went back into the medicine store.

Whitepaw went outside and sat patiently as Briarlight dragged herself from her nest to the clearing. The paralyzed cat kept going farther from the den, and Whitepaw followed her until she stopped a few tail-lengths from the medicine den. Briarlight laid down, and Whitepaw sat next to her.

Whitepaw asked, "So, what did you want to talk to me about?"

Briarlight meowed, "I noticed you've been talking to my sister a lot." She didn't sound concerned or annoyed when she asked that, instead she sounded a bit happy.

"Yeah. We're friends." _I think, or hope._

"Friends?" Briarlight began to lightly purr. "She must be really happy that someone likes her for her other than what she did."

"Yeah." said Whitepaw, not knowing what else to say.

A bit of an awkward silence arose. It was then vanquished when Briarlight said, "So, did you really just want to check up on Jayfeather? I wouldn't ask but no one, except for maybe Bramblestar, Lionblaze, and Leafpool, just goes in just to say 'hi'. Jayfeather is really busy all the time."

"Yeah, but I really did just felt like checking in on him." concluded Whitepaw.

Briarlight, content, then said, "I actually wanted to meet with you since you've been hanging out with my sister a lot. And besides, if you are really a Twoleg, then why would you want to be around us even if you really do know us? And I mean _really _know us according to what Jayfeather has said."

_Jayfeather talks about me?_ Whitepaw pushed the thought away before she delayed her answer to the she-cat. "Because since I know who you all are, I would know what to expect if I became close to any of you. And why in StarClan would I pass the chance to be a warrior?" The apprentice's eyes filled in wonder as she continued. "It's a dream come true to a Twoleg to be in their favorite fictional world." Whitepaw then added, "By the way, fictional means made-up."

"I see. But you have to know it's dangerous here. Wouldn't you have known that? Wouldn't you have wanted to go back when you could have gotten ripped apart by Tigerheart? Or realized you couldn't do Twoleg things? What about your fear of spiders and cats accepting you?" Briarlight seemed to have wanted to ask these for a while, judging how she spoke.

Whitepaw simply replied, "I would have probably turned tail if there were more spiders here, which thank StarClan there aren't many. And I can care less about Twoleg things and what cats think of me; since, I don't hang out with anyone much and usually I hear about things last. And I can handle a little pain. As long as there are no battles or border skirmishes I end up in during my stay, I'll be fine."

Briarlight looked to be a bit guilty after the apprentice's explaination. She meowed, "I'm sorry if I'm asking all this stuff."

"It's okay."

Briarlight continued. "And I also wanted to meet you because you seem different. You like to be alone, and you seem quite honest right now. You also act a bit odd and make strange gestures."

Whitepaw was confused. _Strange gestures? _"What do you mean by 'strange gestures'?"

"You make facial expressions to yourself and whisper to yourself. Besides that, you go into the forest a lot."

_I guess I never realized_. "Oh, okay." She said, understanding what the warrior meant. "I usually don't realize what I'm doing. It just all seems normal to me."

"I can say you aren't insane," commented the disabled cat, "but you seem just plain odd. I just can't explain it." She then smiled, and looked at Whitepaw in sudden joy. "And that's why I think you're okay."

Whitepaw was appreciated that Briarlight thought like that about her. Whitepaw felt her heart fill with happiness. She said, "Thanks!"

The limp warrior smiled in return. She then changed the subject. "So, uh, I also wanted to ask about your knowledge of us." The she-cat's questions seemed to go on forever.

_Again with_ that_ question?_ Whitepaw replied, "Yeah?"

"Just to be sure that you do know us, tell something detailed that happened to me or my family."

Whitepaw flicked her tail back and forth as she thought up a few scenes from the previous Warriors books. She thought of the most important ones and said, "You moved to the old Twoleg nest when you, Millie, and a bunch of other cats were sick, you paralyzed your hind legs when a tree fell on you, and is Millie still hovering over you and worrying about you?"

Briarlight's eyes widened in realization. "Jayfeather wasn't kidding when you knew his life. Hold on-were you spying on us?" The dark brown she-cat's gaze turned angered. She glared at Whitepaw, making the apprentice uncomfortable.

"No, no, no! I know it may seem like spying, but when I was a Twoleg, everyone had access to almost every single detail to cats' lives. I read everything. It sounds like spying, but it's not. I haven't told any secrets to any cat. I promise." Whitepaw hoped the explaination was believable.

The response wasn't exactly expected, but it was at least not very harsh. "Fine." Briarlight seemed to have calmed down from her sudden anger. "but it is still hard to believe what you're saying! I don't even know how other cats believe you."

It dawned upon Whitepaw about what the clan cat said. How _did_ the other cats believe her? _They probably just trust that StarClan knows what they're doing, and that they actually do think StarClan did this. But it's not like others would believe that, since a random stranger that happened to appear out of nowhere told it. But did StarClan ever tell them directly? I guess only StarClan knows! See what I did there? Oh, wait, I'm not talking to anyone_. Whitepaw stopped talking to herself in her head and turned her attention to the cat in front of her.

"I don't know either." Whitepaw then realized that everything had gotten darker. The moon seemed to be raised in the sky a bit, and the sun's rays were still fading away. Whitepaw concluded the conversation. "So, I better get inside for the night."

"Can you, me, and my sister talk to you after you get back from training tomorrow?" Briar light asked, suddenly.

"Sure." Whitepaw got up and Briarlight began to drag herself back to the medicine den.

As Whitepaw made her way through the clearing, which now had few cats roaming it, she thought to herself, _Since when do I have so many friends? I now have Lilypaw, Seedpaw, Briarlight, Blossomfall, Molepaw, and Cherrypaw, and maybe Jayfeather. _Way_ too many cats._

Whitepaw slipped into the apprentice den, which now inhabited the other four apprentices settled in. Whitepaw went to her lonesome nest, nestled in, and closed her eyes.

She was immediately brought to a familiar gloomy forest with a starless sky. Whitepaw sighed in annoyance. _She wasn't serious was she?_ She then witnessed a figure slink out of the shadows with a familiar pelt. _Never mind._

"Tell me." said Mapleshade, coming out of the shadows and showing her knotted pelt.

WHitepaw's eyes blazed with anger. "No!"

Without any warning, Mapleshade ran towards Whitepaw and barreled onto her. The apprentice landed with a thud, her back against the ground. A paw swiped across the apprentice's entire left front arm, being quicker than a hawk. Whitepaw yowled as she felt immediate pain and tried to get her attacker off. She slid her claws out and tried to rake Mapleshade's belly, but the dark cat jumped off anyway, and then stood right in front of Whitepaw.

"I wasn't joking, you rat." hissed Mapleshade.

"For flipping StarClan's sake, I am never telling you anything about my clanmate's weaknesses." Whitepaw wanted to make a run for it, but being a Twoleg who hadn't experienced enough pain, laid down and dealt with it. She looked at the wound and her eyes widened in unimaginable shock.

Her leg had two long claw marks reaching from her shoulder to her wrist. It was bleeding heavily, which made the arm three times weaker. Whitepaw wanted to cry or yowl from the intense pain, but bit her tongue to not show weakness. She looked up at Mapleshade, afraid.

Mapleshade smiled evilly. "You're too weak. Maybe I should choose you to join StarClan."

"Okay, you know I am not going to be an idiot, right? I am going to tell the clan about this." Whitepaw threatened, her voice shaking in misery.

"But what will they do? A dark forest cat has to summon them here. And if I did, I would be bringing more cats with me."

Whitepaw folded her ears back, knowing she's not making better threats. She weakly stated, "StarClan can do something. Or maybe I can wait till I'm a warrior to kill you."

Mapleshade sarcastically said, "Oh no, a Twoleg is going to-"

Whitepaw made the sudden, yet useless, decision and attempted to wound Mapleshade somehow. The apprentice leaped at the cat with her wounded front leg not helping and attempted to drag her claws across her opponents shoulders. Mapleshade dodged it by rolling away, which gave Whitepaw the chance to half-limp, half-run to her and try to bite her throat. Mapleshade had then lifted her head to try to get up, but hit Whitepaw's chin. They both fell, but Mapleshade was quicker to recover. She then show her teeth and attempted to bite into Whitepaw's other shoulder. Whitepaw closed her eyes in fear and braced herself, but the nightmare abruptly ended.

Whitepaw woke up panting. She instantly checked herself to see if she had any wounds, but for some reason she didn't have any. She didn't know what to make of the wounds or the dream. Ignoring her missing cuts, she then made the realization that she would get a dream from her each night.

She sat there for a few minutes to calm down and take in everything that had just happened. She knew she wouldn't live through the following nights. She decided to think about it later. She couldn't think about it then, or she'll end up just cowering there in fear figuring out what to do when she had the next nightmare.

Whitepaw looked around and saw that it was dawn. The other apprentices were still sleeping, not bothered by the older she-cat's awakening. Whitepaw didn't know what else to do, so she just got up and walked outside, still dazed by the nightmare. The clearing was a bit bright, and cats were already waking up for a patrol or something else, too.

Whitepaw thought that going on a dawn patrol would get her mind off of the nightmare. She went over to a group cats, but didn't know what to do after that. When she was about to abandon the plan, Squirrelflight saw her and said, "Whitepaw, I don't think you've been on a patrol for a while now. I'll have you join this one with Spiderleg, Hazeltail, Millie, and Foxleap. You all will be heading to the borders along ShadowClan territory."

Whitepaw obeyed and went over to the group. Whitepaw could almost feel the irritation spreading among the group, except Millie and Foxleap; Foxleap had gotten used to her after a while. Whitepaw then followed the group out, and walked a mouse-length or two from them. They all exited the camp and entered the forest. Whitepaw hoped it would be a normal day.

**Don't worry, the patrol will actually be significant to the next chapter.**

**Thanks you for the follows, favorites, and reviews! See ya next chapter!**


	13. Chapter 13

***Spoiler warning for Mapleshade's Vengeance***

Whitepaw followed the group to ShadowClan territory, with Millie as the patrol leader. Her mind was still on her nightmare. She knew the thought would go away eventually, but it would only be reminded when night fell again. She shook her head and thought, _Well, if I want to ignore it then stop thinking about it! Though that usually has the opposite effect_. Whitepaw sighed. _Okay, okay, okay. Let me think here. If I woke up with no wounds, then maybe it will start over every night, and I will be able to live every day. But how the heck would I deal with that? For an unknown amount of time? Wait, I'm not helping._

Whitepaw thought about that for half the time that it took to get to the ShadowClan borders. She concluded that it was just a dream, and since she had no wounds waking up, Mapleshade was just haunting her dreams. As in, she was just a figure of Whitepaw's imagination. But Whitepaw knew that wasn't true, and just used that theory to calm her down.

Whitepaw felt a fluff of fur touch her shoulder. She jumped a bit from surprise and looked over to the tail's owner. She expected it to be Millie, but it was instead Foxleap.

Foxleap looked concerned, and whispered, "Whitepaw, is there something wrong? I know you're usually quiet and you isolate yourself from the group, but you look a bit scared. Is something wrong?"

Whitepaw didn't care if it sounded way too honest, so she whispered back, "A few moons ago, I was dreaming of meeting the Dark Forest cat Mapleshade. I was on StarClan's side of the borders and she was on the Dark Forest's side. She told me she wanted me to tell her a cat's weakness, but I refused. I then had another dream where I was in the Dark Forest with Mapleshade, and she and I argued a bit before she stated I would be seeing her every night. And then the third time was when I got attacked by Mapleshade, and she asked for a cat's weakness again. And that was last night!"

Foxleap was in utter shock. He erased his shock and instead replaced it with calmness. "I'm not sure how the clan should deal with this. But if it happens again, then we need to tell this to Bramblestar, Leafpool, and Jayfeather. But if that actually happened to you, then why didn't you wake up with any wounds?"

_I know he wouldn't believe me at first, but seriously?_ "I don't know why I woke up with no wounds. But why can't we tell them now?"

"StarClan might do something."

"They can't control the Dark Forest!"

Another voice spoke, interrupting the conversation. "Whitepaw, you can search the area for anything out of place while the rest of us look as well, and renew the borders."

Whitepaw departed from Foxleap and began to look around. She couldn't believe that Foxleap would decide to tell them later! She knew she could ask the three herself, but she doesn't like to ask things. She would need to figure out what to do when she began dreaming of the dark cat again.

She put her nose to the ground and began to try to pick up any scents. So far nothing; only prey and ThunderClan scents. She looked over to what the others were doing, and didn't see anything out of the ordinary. She looked across the border and also saw nothing. _I guess this is just another boring patrol._

After a few more moments of looking and marking the border, Millie rounded up the cats to leave. When they were about to disappear into the forest and to their camp, sounds of paw steps were heard from the other side of the border. A ShadowClan patrol appeared, consisting of Tigerheart, and two others and an apprentice. One of them, a light brown tabby cat, was leading the patrol.

Millie greeted the ShadowClan catsl. "Good morning, Owlclaw."

Owlclaw replied back, "Greetings." He looked over to Whitepaw, and then back to Millie. "I see Whitepaw is handling clan life well." he said, with tone of annoyance.

"Yes, she is."

Whitepaw noticed that all the ShadowClan cats, except Owlclaw at that moment, were glaring at her. Whitepaw backed away and hid herself behind the other cats. Suddenly, she heard snickering from that group.

Millie asked, "What's so funny?"

The black she-cat of the ShadowClan group said, "It seems that the little apprentice is a bit of a coward, considering her age!"

Whitepaw felt like she wanted to climb up a tree and never come down. She lowered herself a bit to be less visible, and waited for Millie to lead her patrol out.

Foxleap stepped forward and defended the apprentice, "Is being shy really something to be laughed at? That's just who she is."

Tigerheart argued back, "Shy doesn't make a warrior. She might as well be a medicine cat and hide in a den all day!" His groups laughter grew slightly louder and more obvious.

Millie growled, and Spiderleg and Hazeltail narrowed their eyes at them. Millie stopped and sighed in annoyance. "We'll be leaving. Good-bye." She flicked her tail and led her cats away.

The ShadowClan apprentice, judging by the voice, said, "Yeah! Walk back to your clan and curl up in your nest!" Even more laughter was heard after that.

Whitepaw lowered her head a bit, wishing she could have blocked the comment out. Millie walked beside her and comforted her apprentice. "Don't listen to them. They know we won't fight back in any way, so that gives them an excuse to-"

Another hurtful comment was spoken, this time by Owlclaw. "Tell me when you've picked some poppy seeds to calm yourself down!"

Whitepaw looked behind her to see that the ShadowClan cats had finally begun to leave, but Owlclaw stayed behind a moment to make that remark. Owlclaw followed his group while holding his tail and head up high.

"Arrogant bully." muttered Foxleap.

When they thought that the comments were done, they had realized that two of them, the apprentice and she-cat, had come back. They shouted together, "Mouseheart!"

Foxleap turned tail and ran to the border. "That's it!"

Whitepaw and his clanmates tried to call him back, but Foxleap kept running until he was at the very edge of the border. His clanmates ran over to him as he says, "You have no right to make fun of ThunderClan's apprentices! Don't you have anything else to do other than act like kits?"

"Grasspaw and I can do whatever we like since you can't cross the border." replied the black cat. Foxleap unsheathed his claws.

Grasspaw commented, "Pinenose and I can say what we want. And if you cross the border, you'll only be getting yourself in trouble."

Foxleap took a deep breathe and calmed down. He slowly sheathed his claws. "Fine."

The ThunderClan warrior turned around, but stopped and froze by the word that came out of Pinenose's mouth.

"_Kit_."

Chaos broke out.

Foxleap caterwauled and pounced onto Pinenose. Grasspaw and the ThunderClan cats gasped in horror as they backed away, watching the unexpected quarrel. Foxleap clawed at Pinenose, who was doing the best she could to defend herself.

Spiderleg ran forward and pushed over Pinenose, and unexpectedly defended his kin. "Don't you dare touch my brother!"

Spiderleg was now standing over Pinenose to hold her down. She struggled underneath him, but the warrior wouldn't let her go. Things got worse.

They must have been loud enough where Owlclaw and Tigerheart heard them, because they ran right into the area and tackled Spiderleg. Foxleap had gotten up, with claw scratches visible on his pelt. He then ended up trying to get Spiderleg out of the tussle he was in. Millie, Hazeltail, Whitepaw, and Grasspaw had been watching, but Grasspaw had decided to help and try to separate his classmates from the others.

Millie suddenly meowed to Whitepaw and Hazeltail, "We need to help Foxleap and Spiderleg. Come on!"

Hazeltail and Millie crossed the border and got themselves into the fight. Whitepaw was hesitant, but she ran behind them after a few seconds. She was suddenly halted by a stinging pain to the right side of her flank. She whipped her head around to see the cat who did it. Tigerheart was standing there with hate blazing in his eyes.

"That was for the last time we met!"

Angered, Whitepaw raised both her paws, now unsheathed, and tried to claw him down. Tigerheart ended up pushing her with a big enough force to tumble her onto her back. An official fight had begun, where Pinenose was defending herself against Hazeltail and Foxleap, Whitepaw was fighting with Tigerheart, Grasspaw was clawing Millie, and Spiderleg was struggling against Owlclaw.

Whitepaw tried to push Tigerheart off of her, but he was too heavy. He lashed another paw to Whitepaw's face, but she moved her head to the side, having her face a hair away from getting a scratch. Whitepaw maneuvered her back legs and placed them under Tigerheart's belly, and then pushed full force to push him off while at the same time harming him. Tigerheart handled the pain, but he got unbalanced and fell to the left of Whitepaw. The apprentice got up as quick as she could and ran a few mouse-lengths from the fights.

Whitepaw examined the cats, and couldn't tell when it we going to end. Suddenly, a small being pushed her over, and fell onto her right side, again. This time, it was Grasspaw.

Before Whitepaw could do anything, the ShadowClan apprentice scrapped his claws down hard on Whitepaw's left arm. Whitepaw yowled in pain, having her rage give her a bolt of energy. She got up, turned to the apprentice and gave a powerful blow to the younger cat's shoulder. The apprentice hissed, and whimpered as he ran off into ShadowClan's forest as if he had enough.

Whitepaw winced at the stinging, intense pain of her wounded, bleeding arm. She glanced at it, shock filling her emotions. It was the same exact markings she had in her dream. She shook her head, ignoring the thought for now. She stood on all fours; this time, not falling down.

The fight must have stopped, because the ShadowClan cats were running off into their territory. The ThunderClan cats struggled to get up from how much damage they took.

Owlclaw looked back before vanishing into the forest, saying, "You should really work on your tempers, Thundercats." He ran off without other word.

Millie, Foxleap, Hazeltail, Whitepaw and Spiderleg slowly padded to each other. They gathered and immediately went into their forest towards their camp in silence. Hazeltail, Spiderleg, and Millie only had scratches along their flanks, but it looks like Foxleap was the one to have the most damage done. He had a gash in his back right leg, making him limp, and he had a bite in his tail. Whitepaw had her own scratches including the identical, long claw marks on her left leg.

They all slowly made it back to camp, and it took them as long as until the sun had risen over the mountains completely. They wandered into camp, exhausted. Worried and frightened looks rose among their clanmates' faces. They meowed to each other as they watched the patrol reach the leader's den.

Bramblestar was already perched beside the rock pile, and was watching the group with Squirrelflight and the rest. They leader and deputy scrambled to their paws and trotted to the patrol.

The tabby spoke in a worried yet angered tone. "What in Silverpelt happened to all of you?"

The five cats were silent for a few seconds, until Whitepaw blurted out the truth. "We were on the patrol as usual and we met a ShadowClan patrol. They started to insult me because I was a bit shy and I hid behind the others. When we were about to leave, Foxleap could barely keep his temper down and ended up attacking one of the ShadowClan cats. We and the rest of the ShadowClan patrol tried to separate each other, sort of, by fighting. We ended up being in a full on fight on ShadowClan's territory. We also got the worse end of the fight." Whitepaw took a deep breath after speaking, and then waited for an answer from Bramblestar.

The leader was not happy. "Whitepaw, I appreciate your complete honesty. But for you and you four," He turned to the rest of the patrol. "have done something unacceptable. And even during the cold season, when medicine supplies are low, and after a battle we have already had." Each cat on the patrol lowered their gaze guiltily.

He looked directly at Foxleap. "I will be giving a punishment to the rest, but you, Foxleap, will be picking the elder's ticks for a quarter moon instead of going on border patrols. I suggest you go to the medicine den while I talk to the others, and then visit Purdy."

The reddish-furred cat got up without protesting. Bramblestar turned to the others. "Each of you will be gathering moss for the warriors' den and replacing bedding all tomorrow. Except for Whitepaw," He looked at her, "who will instead miss out on training, and also gather moss tomorrow herself for the apprentice den and change out bedding." Whitepaw actually felt okay with that. It's not like she hated training, but she wasn't athletic much.

"Do you understand?" Each of the patrol cats nodded. "Go to the medicine den and clean up. I do not want to see this happen ever again."

The patrol dipped their heads, got up, and walked to the medicine den. They were about to enter when Jayfeather blocked the entrance.

Jayfeather looked each cat as if he could see. "I do not need seven cats crowding the medicine den. Who ever has the worst wounds will go in first."

Millie volunteered Whitepaw to go in. "Whitepaw has a large cut on her arm."

"Then get in." he demanded. The blind cat got up and walked into the den, Whitepaw following.

Whitepaw settled herself next to a pool of water. Jayfeather had grabbed cobwebs, moss, and a few herbs from the store and brought them to there. He hastily took the cobwebs and laid them out onto Whitepaw's arm, almost layering the entire limb. He then took a few patches of the cobwebs and strewn them over her bleeding flank.

Whitepaw could hear him mutter things under his breathe. "This is mouse-brained...no this is more than mouse-brained...it's mouse-brained, pathetic, and a waste of herbs!"

Whitepaw could maybe agree with him, but she personally thought it was partially the ShadowClan cats' faults. But even more so Foxleap. She kept sitting still as Jayfeather undid the cobwebs on her flank and washed the rest of the blood with soaked moss.

Whitepaw looked behind her and saw Foxleap getting treatment from Leafpool. He was laying down on the stone floor as the she-cat tended to his gushing leg wound. Whitepaw cringed a bit from how much was pouring out. She turned her attention back to her own wounds and stood still.

Jayfeather had taken a long time putting on a few herbs on her fur, and putting another cobweb on her front leg. He had finally finished when he had covered her scratches in an herb poultice.

Whitepaw turned around when she heard a voice in the room. She saw Brightheart enter, padding towards Leafpool. The medicine cat said, "Oh, thank StarClan you're here! Can you tend to Foxleap while I check the rest?" Brightheart nodded, and took place of Leafpool, who was making her way outside with a bundle of cobwebs and herbs.

Whitepaw turned back to Jayfeather, who was rolling up extra herbs. He said, "Your done. Rest in your den for the day." Whitepaw obeyed and left.

The apprentice pushed past the entrance of the den, and then Hazeltail entered right after. Whitepaw walked over to the apprentice den, feeling the cobwebs on her leg rub against her wound. She entered the den and laid down in her nest. Immediately, Briarlight and Blossomfall joined the apprentice.

Blossomfall sat down beside Whitepaw's nest, and Briarlight dragged herself next to Blossomfall. The dappled warrior said to Whitepaw, "Are you okay?"

Whitepaw nodded her head. Briarlight commented, "I can't believe this happened! First Tigerheart, and now this! How could things get worse?"

Whitepaw sighed. "I don't know. But I have a feeling it's not over."

Blossomfall fell worried. She said, "What do you mean? I know we have trouble, but I can't imagine StarClan would let things crumble down during these moons of peace."

_StarClan doesn't have _that_ much control_. "Never mind. So, you guys wanted to talk to me?"

* * *

Whitepaw left the den briefly to get a piece of fresh-kill. It was past sun-high, but the sun was hidden in many light-gray clouds. It was the coldest day so far, but it was bareable. She limped to the pile and picked a bird. She picked it up and turned around to meet back with Blossomfall and Briarlight, who was still there. The sisters would leave soon, but they wanted to stay a little while longer.

Whitepaw ended up nose-to-nose with Jayfeather. She stood still in shock until he placed his paws on her webbed leg. Whitepaw placed the bird back onto the ground and sat down. Jayfeather began to unwrap the cobweb while saying, "Come back to my den so I can place on a poultice for this." He grabbed the bloody webs and walked to the medicine cat den while Whitepaw followed.

Whitepaw entered the den after Jayfeather, and sat down near the pool again. While Whitepaw waited for the medicine cat to come over, she saw Foxlap asleep in a makeshift nest next to Briarlight's. He had a cobweb wrapped around his tail, and another on his hind leg. Whitepaw felt so sorry that he had taken the worst from the ShadowClan cats.

Jayfeather returned with what looked like catchweed, goldenrod, along with more moss. He dipped the moss in the pool and washed her fur to get rid of the mix of herbs on it.

As he did his job, he commented, "I still can't believe this happened! Foxleap's way too lucky that I am supposed to care for his wounds."

Whitepaw didn't respond in anyway, but she did say, "Though I guess he didn't deserve that much clawing."

"Of course, since it would have saved me a few extra herbs." He dropped the moss and started to mess arrange them. "I'm just glad it isn't leaf-bare yet."

Whitepaw replied, "So, did you give him poppy seeds or something?"

"Yes, he needs to heal the best he can. His leg wound might be deep enough where it could cause an infection. And his tail needs to be sealed with cob webs for the rest of the night."

Whitepaw felt worried for Jayfeather, mostly because he sounded scared and hurried. She couldn't help asking as he applied a poultice of goldenrod to her leg. "Are _you_ okay?"

Jayfeather paused, but quickly continued his actions as he responded. "Of course I am."

"I'm sorry to ask, but you just seem a bit distracted or something."

"Whitepaw. I'm a medicine cat. Of course I'm distracted." he added, "And if you are talking about something else, then there is nothing."

"Okay."

Jayfeather finished putting the poultice on, and it slightly stung, but Whitepaw didn't complain. He began to check her pelt for her other scratches.

Whitepaw asked again, "Will the others be okay?"

"Yes, yes. Now let me just see to you in peace!" Jayfeather snapped.

Whitepaw flinched, and lowered her head. "Sorry." she mumbled.

The blind cat sighed. "I apologize for that. I'm just so worried for my clanmates right now. We had the battle a few moons ago...and then you arrived...and we are still having trouble..." He stopped checking her pelt and went over to the catchweed, dividing it. "I just can't concentrate right now."

Whitepaw felt the need to say something positive to the medicine cat. She tried to think of something, and ended up meowing, "Well, I hope everything will be fine in a few moons." _Oops. I didn't mean to say that, considering Bramblestar's Storm_.

He said, jokingly, "How about in a quarter moon? That would be brilliant." He took the catchweed and pulled off a few burrs to place on her cuts.

Whitepaw smiled. "That would be nice. Though it's always exciting for something new to happen."

"Right! As if being attacked by those frog-eaters was exciting."

"It's different than my normal life. In my old life, getting as many cuts as now would have a Twoleg be in twice as much pain." She talked about the ShadowClan cats and the insult he made about them. "And ShadowClan cats aren't that bad, except for their bad luck with evil cats. Each clan thinks about themselves as the good guys, and that the rest are evil. I read comments from them, such as 'typical ThunderClan' and 'just what a RiverClan cat would do' and so on." She realized she had no point to go with that. "Okay, I just forgot where I was going with that."

"You forget a lot of things." Jayfeather pointed out.

"I know."

Jayfeather finished up, and swept the unused herbs with his tail. He turned to Whitepaw and said, "Finished. Now, I'll check on you and Millie tomorrow at sun-high. And if you're well enough, I would like to have you collect more herbs with me."

Whitepaw nodded, remembered he was blind, and answered with an, "Okay."

Jayfeather nodded. "We need to collect catmint for leaf-bare."

Whitepaw got up, feeling a bit less pain in her leg. She walked to the exit, but turned her head to the tabby and said, "See you later."

"See you tomorrow."

Whitepaw exited the den, suddenly feeling cheery. She went back to the apprentice den, where Blossomfall and Briarlight were still waiting. They looked at the apprentice with alarming looks.

Briarlight asked, "What took you so long? And where did the cob webs go?"

She answered, smiling, "Jayfeather took me to his den to replace the webs with a poultice."

Blossomfall asked, "What about the fresh-kill you were getting?"

Whitepaw remembered, and said, "Oh, yeah. I'll be just a moment." The sisters nodded.

Whitepaw went out, grabbed the bird back, and slipped back into the den and into her nest. She bit the bird, and continued smiling.

"Are you perhaps happy about something?" asked Blossomfall.

Whitepaw quit smiling and made up an excuse. "Oh, I was just thinking of something funny."

"Oh, okay."

Whitepaw continued eating her bird as she and the sisters continued to talk for a few more minutes. After those minutes were up, the warriors had to leave. Whitepaw waved her tail in farewell.

Whitepaw disposed of her prey remains, only to come back to her nest to find the four apprentices magically appearing. They were surrounding Whitepaw's nest, and stared at Whitepaw when she entered. She slowed her pace, but stopped when none of them spoke.

Whitepaw asked, disturbed, "Uh, guys? Why are you staring at me?"

Cherrypaw chirped, "We want to hear another story!"

Whitepaw hesitantly went along with it. She settled in her nest again and asked Cherrypaw, "What kind of story would you like?"

"Something full of adventure!"

Molepaw chimed in. "And something that was fun for you!"

Lilypaw and Seedpaw said, together, "And about a place outside of your den!"

Whitepaw thought of the perfect place to tell about. She was brought back into the memories of that place as she said the name. "Okay, I've got it. It's called...Disneyland!"

Each of the other apprentices listened closely to what the she-cat said. "Disneyland has been called the happiest place on earth-I mean in the world. It started with a guy named Walt Disney who created entertainment using a character called Mickey Mouse."

"A mouse? Why use something that is prey?" Molepaw inquired.

"I don't really know. And so, when he got popular, he had an amusement place open called Disneyland. There are rides there that are based off the stories he had created, and a few other things that the place borrowed. One of the rides I like is the Pirates of the Caribbean boat ride."

Lilypaw asked, "Is a ride like a badger-ride that we got when we were kits? And what's a 'Pirates of the Caribbean'?"

"A ride is a thrilling motion tour throughout a themed-out area. And Pirates of the Caribbean is a movie about Twolegs who are on these water monsters called ships that ride through the sun-drown place's waters. They have adventures and fight other pirates, and find valuable items. The boat ride, and a boat is a smaller version of a ship, is supposed to be going through the adventure of the pirates."

"Cool! I wish I could go on it!" commented Seedpaw, out of wonder and excitement.

"You could, but animals aren't allowed on it. And I don't even know if we are in the same universe where I live where you could."

Seedpaw meowed, "Is there anything else?"

"Yes, but there are way too many rides to explain. Another thing I like about that place, is that I have been visiting it almost every year, and I have been going there on my birthday for a few years in a row." She added, "A birthday is when you celebrate the day you were born."

"Wow...you must feel special that you can have a celebration for just being born." Molepaw said, amazed.

"Not really. I don't have any friends in my Twoleg life to be with me for the celebration, so instead, all I do is go to Disneyland, get a gift, and have a cake. A cake is an unhealthy type of food, but it tastes really good."

The apprentice's excitement faded. "You don't have any friends?" Cherrypaw said, showing a sympathetic gaze like the others.

"I choose not to. I am not fond of being friends with Twolegs."

Cherrypaw quickly understood. "Oh, okay. But don't you get lonely?"

"As long as I have someone to talk to in the Twoleg world, I am not alone."

Cherrypaw nodded in agreement. Whitepaw took a deep breathe, and told a bit more about Disneyland as the others listened with great interest.

* * *

Whitepaw laid in her nest. It had been a long while since she and the apprentices talked, and she had slept after they left. She woke up at dusk, and hoped she would get back to sleep for the sake of recovering, so she could hang out with Jayfeather tomorrow. But she had just been laying there staring outside her den until she passed out.

Outside was dark, having stars appear. The night started to feel extra cold, but Whitepaw tried to deal with it. The other apprentices had apparently fallen asleep before the sun went down, being exhausted from some of them going on a dusk patrol, and the others going on a hunting patrol. They soundly slept while Whitepaw lay awake.

Due to what happened that day, Whitepaw had completely forgotten about the horrible nightmares she got, and didn't anxiously wait for the night to pass. She would be in a surprise when she slumbered.

Whitepaw closed her eyes, trying to sleep again, when a figure stood in the entrance of the den. Whitepaw tried to figure out who it was, but couldn't see the cat's details. The cat walked forward, and placed something on her nest, poppy seeds by the smell of it.

The cat whispered, "I forgot to give you some earlier." It was Jayfeather.

Whitepaw whispered back, "Thank...you." Whitepaw wanted to say 'thanks' but wanted to say what she did instead. But due to saying 'thanks' all the time, it was sort of painful to say 'thank you' in a general way.

She heard the medicine cat say, "Your welcome." He exited the den.

Whitepaw smiled as she licked up the poppy seeds. Now she could barely wait to see him. She rested her head, and waited for sleep to consume her into happy dreams. She was wrong.

She woke up in the same exact place as last time. Whitepaw was standing in the middle of a clearing with the same trees and sky. Scared, she looked around to see where Mapleshade was. The Dark Forest cat was in front of her, but was covered in shadows to hide and disguise her.

Mapleshade's repeated words sent a chill up Whitepaw's spine. "Tell me."

There was one word on Whitepaw's mind: _Run_.

Whitepaw whipped around and sprinted the opposite direction Mapleshade was standing. She ran as fast as she could, and as she did she heard Mapleshade yowling from behind her. "Coward!"

Whitepaw didn't dare look back. She didn't care where she was going, she just needed to escape. Suddenly, pain shot like a lightning bolt through her left leg, and she wanted to stop running to care for it. But she heaved on anyways without looking to see what damage she had done. She kept running and running and running. She didn't even know if Mapleshade was chasing after her.

Whitepaw kept going until she couldn't anymore. Her legs shook from working for so long. She collapsed on the ground, falling onto her right side. She panted and weakly looked over to her left leg. It was bleeding heavily, but the thing was is that it was the same cut she got from Mapleshade. Whitepaw figured out what happened.

_Every time I return, I would leave off where I was the last time. And that goes for wounds, too_. Whitepaw was happy she wouldn't have the wounds when she woke up, but dread filled that relief when she realized she would have the risk of dying quicker here.

Whitepaw lifted herself up with her exhausted fore legs and looked around. Ahead, she saw a lit up place. Whitepaw didn't know if it was good or bad, but went towards it slowly. The closer she got to it, the more hope she got instead of fear.

Whitepaw had gotten close enough where she knew where she was: The border between StarClan and the Dark Forest. She couldn't believe the luck she received. She was about to walk towards it when she heard paws running behind her. She looked back and her blood ran cold; Mapleshade had found her.

With whatever strength she had left, Whitepaw slowly ran to the border, but her limp made her even slower. Mapleshade's paw steps grew louder and nearer. Scared for her life, Whitepaw used the rest of her energy to make one large leap. She jumped over the border and tumbled on to the green grass of StarClan's territory. Whitepaw whimpered in pain from landing on her cut leg. She laid there panting and heaving, and it felt like her beating heart would explode out of her chest.

Whitepaw just laid there with satisfaction that she had escaped the Dark Forest. She heard Mapleshade behind her skidding to a halt. The dark cat yowled in anger.

"You shouldn't have escaped me! You should have given me what I wanted! You should have understood my plan of vengeance!" hissed Mapleshade. By the sound of it, Mapleshade was clawing the ground out of frustration.

After a few minutes of hissing from the dark cat, a voice was heard in front of Whitepaw, a she-cat by the sound of it. "Mapleshade. You will not give anymore pain to this cat."

Bluestar emerged from the ferns with Firestar. Whitepaw wanted to get up and say how happy she was to see them, but was still weak to do so. Firestar and Bluestar sat down and spoke to Mapleshade.

Firestar said, "Mapleshade, we know that you thirst for revenge, but no matter how many moons in the Dark Forest you serve we will not allow you to do that."

Bluestar continued on for him. "Whitepaw will no longer be summoned by you again."

"I wasn't going to get revenge on her. I needed her for information!" Mapleshade sounded beyond furious.

"No, Mapleshade. Soon you will fade from the forest and be nothing but a haunting memory." The blue-gray cat taunted. "If only you hadn't turned out this way. You had a chance to redeem yourself if you hadn't killed those innocent cats when you were alive."

Whitepaw was confused. _She killed cats when she was alive? How far has she gone?_ The apprentice kept listening.

"They were not innocent! How dare you say those fox-hearted rats were! They _deserved_ to suffer for making me lose my kits and everything I loved!"

Firestar turned to Whitepaw, his eyes showing no reaction to what he had heard. "Whitepaw, come with us. We will heal you."

Whitepaw struggled to get to her paws. Her wound was still bleeding, but not as much. She limped to Firestar and Bluestar as they had begun to walk away.

Mapleshade's yelling was heard behind them, and Whitepaw tried to block them out. With newfound strength, she kept up with the StarClan cats to where ever they were going.

Whitepaw was so glad that Bluestar and Firestar had found her. She was even more grateful that they were going to heal her. She thought she was only going to have those few seconds of freedom before she was brought back to the Dark Forest the next night.

The she-cat took a deep breath. She looked around and noticed for once that the forest of StarClan was prettier than she imagined. All the vegetation looked so healthy and the sky was so bright and beautiful. She couldn't spot a single leaf that wasn't green.

Soon enough, Whitepaw had followed them to a glistening pond in the middle of the forest. Firestar and Bluestar sat down beside the pond as Whitepaw looked out across it, admiring how pretty it looked.

Bluestar said, "Take a dip in the pond and you will be surprised by the results."

Hesitant but willingly, Whitepaw slipped into the gleaming pool. Right when she remembered she had never swam in anything during her time as a cat, her paws felt sand. Apparently the pond wasn't that deep. She waded around in it for a few seconds before climbing out. Water streamed from her pelt, making her white fur shine with water droplets. She felt immediate energy flow through her and no pain anywhere. She looked at her wounded leg to not find it wounded; instead, it was healed completely.

Relieved and happy, Whitepaw said to the StarClan cats, "Oh my StarClan, thank you!"

Firestar meowed, "There is no need to thank us. Instead we should apologize for being oblivious about what was happening to you. We would have helped you sooner if we'd known." The former leader bowed his head in shame.

Bluestar put her tail on his shoulder. "We would have never known what was going on in that forest. But that can be in the past."

Firestar lifted his head back up and took a deep breath. Bluestar continued talking to Whitepaw. "That cat will never bother you again. Whenever she summons you, you will appear at this pool. And when you wake up, your leg will be healed."

Whitepaw was so happy she could cry. "Thank you so much! I hope to never forget what you've done for me."

Bluestar and Firestar only dipped their heads, and looked at Whitepaw for one last time before turning away. They both walked from there, leaving Whitepaw alone at the pool. Whitepaw was so glad to have been saved. She would never be bothered by Mapleshade again.

One question hung in her mind though: What did they mean when they said that Mapleshade had killed cats when she was alive?

Whitepaw shook her head. It didn't matter. She could stop thinking about Mapleshade for all she cared. What she wanted to focus now on was when she had to collect herbs with Jayfeather tomorrow.

**For once, I get a chapter done in less than a month. But whatever, I was in the mode.**

**I read Mapleshade's Vengeance, listened to a 'Come Little Children' piano version while I read it, and got extremely horrified by Mapleshade's life and goal.**

**Thanks for the reviews, follows, and favorites. See you next chapter!**


	14. Chapter 14

Whitepaw woke up at dawn in a happy mood. She felt no pain in her left leg at all, since the cuts were completely gone. She opened her eyes to sunshine streaming into the den. Outside was quiet, other than birds chirping. Whitepaw knew it was going to be a good day.

The other apprentices were still sleeping, but Cherrypaw was missing. Whitepaw shrugged the absence off and got to her paws. She steadily crept out of her nest and walked to the entrance to peek her head outside. Her clanmates were apparently awake, but just quiet. Whitepaw hesitated to go into the forest, but knew Jayfeather wouldn't approve until he checked her.

The she-cat laid back down in her nest and tried to sleep again when she heard someone enter the den. Expecting it to be Jayfeather who decided to check her early, she turned around to see Cherrypaw with a large ball of moss. The she-cat walked to a moss pile the right-most side of the room and dropped the ball onto other moss.

The apprentice noticed that Whitepaw was watching. She turned to her and smiled. "I thought I could help you with changing out the bedding, since I'll be missing training for today, too."

Whitepaw appreciated the help so much, once she remembered about her punishment at that moment, but didn't understand one thing. "Thanks, but wouldn't Bramblestar have picked an alternative mentor for you?"

The ginger cat shrugged. "He's supposed to, but since he hadn't told me who will be training me yet, I figured I would have to miss a day or two worth of training either way." Her cheery attitude fell when she said, "And I think Foxleap will be in this shape for a while." She looked down sadly.

"It's okay, I think he'll manage his wounds just fine." Whitepaw hoped that what she said would help. She then added, "And we can redo the bedding when the rest go out for training." Cherrypaw nodded in agreement.

The day went by slowly, since Whitepaw just laid in her nest for some of the day. The day itself was sunny with a few clouds drifting above, and thank StarClan it wasn't cold, or else Whitepaw would spend another long day freezing her pelt off.

Cats outside began to chatter and move around more, which Whitepaw took the scene as entertainment while she waited for her friends to leave. Something about the talking and mood of the day reminds her of something, but couldn't remember what.

Eventually each apprentice were called to leave for training around mid-morning. Whitepaw and Cherrypaw got out of their nests and grabbed a ball of moss. They each went to their own nests and started to change them out.

Whitepaw still tried to figure out what made the place familiar. Suddenly the place came to her, and she smiled. She told it to Cherrpaw. "You know, now that I think about it, the forest right now is kind of reminding me of a camp I go to in the mountains almost every spring." She began to rake the moss out of her nest.

"Like this camp?" Cherrypaw asked, without looking up, yet sounded interested in the topic.

"Not exactly. This camp is where you go live in cabins, which are mostly made of wood, and do a bunch of activities. You can go swimming, hiking, fishing, play games, put on skits, and a few other random events that the adults put on."

Cherrypw lifted her head up and stopped working. "What's a skit?"

"A skit is when you make a...um...that's actually a bit hard to explain." She restarted what she was saying and did her best to define it. "Well, you create a story. Yes, that. You create a story and you reenact it in front of an audience. In front of an audience in the camp, I mean. The camp usually has the skits done at a campfire."

"Cool! What kind of stories do they make up?" Suddenly, the apprentice showed a fearful expression, her fur pricking. She cried, "Wait, campfire? You have fires in your camp?"

Whitepaw tried not to worry Cherrypaw. "No, no, no! Campfire's are completely safe! They have these places where they create fire near the Twolegs. The fires can't spread."

Cherrypaw's fur flattened and she sighed. "Oh, thank StarClan. I would have thought Twolegs were even more mouse-brained if that wasn't the case."

Whitepaw took no offense to that. "Good, I guess."

Whitepaw switched topics. She began to think of a type of skit to tell about. There was a particular one she knew best. "But one of the skits that is repeated every year is a song performance."

"I think I heard Blossomfall say something about you doing that; the singing thing."

_Really?_ "Well, whatever." She moved right along. "The song is a silly little campfire song that all the Twolegs sing together."

"Can _you_ sing it to me right now?"

Whitepaw refused. "Sorry, but how about another time? I guess I _could_ maybe sing _that_ song in front of you, but not when everyone could hear me." She pointed her tail to outside.

"Okay."

They continued to replace the bedding. Once they finished their own nests, they moved on to another. And another. And another. They had some time delayed since they had to get a bit more moss, and have some fresh-kill, but they made good progress anyway. And with two cats helping, Whitepaw only needed to do one more by the time to sun was in the position of ten o'clock. Cherrypaw laid down in her clean nest as she watched Whitepaw do the last bed. Before now, Whitepaw had told Cherrypaw not to tell Bramblestar that she helped, since Whitepaw didn't get caught of only doing half the work. Cherrypaw agreed immediately.

Whitepaw was almost finished with the last nest when Bramblestar entered the den. Whitepaw and Cherrypaw looked at the leader in surprise.

The tabby leader said, "Good morning. I came by to tell Cherrypaw something." He gazed over to the ginger cat. "I'm sorry, but it doesn't look like Foxleap will recover anytime soon. You're temporary mentor will be Cloudtail until further notice."

Cherrypaw's face fell, and looked at the ground. "Oh. Okay..."

"Again, I am sorry." Bramblestar turned to Whitepaw. "How's your job going?"

"This is the last nest to do."

The leader's eyes widened a bit, but then smiled. "Oh, I guess you got an early start. You're quite lucky to get a small number of nests to do, since the others have to do over half the clan's."

Whitepaw could only imagine how long that would have taken. "Okay. So, when I'm done with this, can I leave?"

"Of course, but go easy on your wounds. You can be excused from patrols today."

Whitepaw kept quiet about her healed leg, since she wanted to keep her excuse from doing work, and continued with the nest as Bramblestar left. It didn't take her long, and when she was done she placed the unused moss in a pile where Cherrypaw first put them. She took a deep breath.

The apprentice left the den and breathed in the fresh air. The day was still wonderful, and she couldn't wait to _finally_ meet up with Jayfeather. She walked over to the medicine den to get her check-up.

She looked inside the den and saw that Jayfeather was checking the medicine store, again. Whitepaw thought, _Since when does he_ not_ check there? _Briarlight was sleeping peacefully in her nest, and Foxleap was in a nest next to her's.

Whitepaw greeted Jayfeather. "Hi. So, is it possible you can check me early?"

Jayfeather heard the she-cat by notifying her by perking his ears up, but didn't reply until he finished looking through the supplies. "Sure. It will save time."

Whitepaw walked over to the pool as Jayfeather pulled something out of the store. He walked over to the apprentice, put the herbs down, and asked, "Is it hurting?"

Whitepaw told the entire truth without much hesitation. "About that...I had a dream where I was in the Dark Forest and one of the cats wanted information about a cat here. I said no, and then she attacked me. She gave me a scratch on my leg identical to the one I got yesterday. In a later dream, I escaped the Dark Forest, having the same wound, and StarClan healed me. And they said that the same wound in real life would be healed too." _I sound like I'm making this up just to weird out my clanmates_.

Jayfeather just stared at her. He then snapped back into reality and asked, "Wait. Is the Dark Forest plotting against us again?" His eyes widened, and his fur stood on end.

"No! It was just the one cat. But everything is okay now."

"Are you sure?" He then added, "Or are you making this all up?" Jayfeather accused.

"I'm not making it up! And StarClan handled the problem. Nothing else in my dreams will happen."

Jayfeather sighed, and then muttered, "You scared me out of my fur." The tom quickly calmed down after a few moments. "You should have told this to someone when whatever that was got serious."

"I told it to Foxleap, since he asked why I looked scared. But I don't think he believed me because he said if it happened again I should tell you, Leafpool, and Bramblestar."

"And you listened to him?" Whitepaw hesitated to nod, but remembered his blindness and answered with a 'yes'. Jayfeather continued. "Well, I can't blame you for being confused about this. But if anything else happens, tell it to Bramblestar. We can't have our own clanmates being tortured in their dreams."

Whitepaw noticed something in his sentence. "Did you just refer to me as...a _clanmate_?" She teased.

Jayfeather confessed what meant. "Fine. After these moons of being stuck with you, I now call you one of my clanmates." He added, "Happy?"

"Very."

Jayfeather walked away into the store again, and came back with a bit of moss. He dipped it in the pool and began to wash off the herbs that were still stuck on Whitepaw's leg.

When he did that, and went behind her and felt around her pelt. He commented, "Thanks to StarClan, you are well enough to help me gather herbs. We can leave now, if you like."

_Oh my StarClan yes!_ Instead of speaking her thoughts, she calmly said, "Sure."

"Then let's go." Jayfeather led the way as Whitepaw was right on his tail.

They entered the forest on their herb gathering session, for about the thousandth time. Whitepaw hoped she could have a conversation with him, have him finally warm up to her as some sort of friend. But that has so far been a very slow process.

It took them longer than she thought it would to get to the Twoleg garden where the catmint grew, so she decided to strike up a conversation. She at first tried to think of a topic, but then decided to ask Jayfeather for one. "So...is there anything we can talk about?" She asked, trying to sound cheery, while at the same time hopeful.

Whitepaw tried not to smile as Jayfeather responded. "I do have a question: Why is it that you like to be alone, but when you're with some other cat, you just _love_ to talk nonstop?"

Whitepaw's giddiness faded a bit._ Well, I tried to start this out friendly._ "I actually don't really know. I like telling stories, but I think that's the only thing I talk nonstop about."

"That could make sense. Another thing: if you want to become a warrior, why are you still interested in gathering herbs with me?"

Whitepaw wasn't prepared for _Jayfeather_ to ask that question. She tried to make up the best excuse she could, since responses like 'just cause' or 'because she likes hanging out with the medicine cat' would send the wrong idea or wouldn't be enough. Her mind just went blank in the end. "Because...it can be fun to learn herbs...and, uh..." She sighed and gave up. "I have no idea. But I can tell you that I do not want to be a medicine cat."

Jayfeather slowed his pace to let her walk beside him. He looked over to her and said, "There has to be_ some_ sort of reason. You have friends, so you don't need another. There hasn't been anyone who wants to help me with medicine cat chores recently..."

Whitepaw used all her will power to be quiet. The one thing on her mind was to tell a partial truth, meaning to say that she wants to be friends with him. But StarClan knows how that would play out if Jayfeather knew that a stranger he only knew for a few moons wanted to be friends with him. He might even take _that_ the wrong way.

Jayfeather spoke another guess, "Is just because you're bored?" he suggested, sounding a bit sarcastic. "_That_ bored to pick herbs?"

The guess rung a bell in Whitepaw's head. _That can be it! Why didn't I think of that?_ "Yes, I guess that's why. It fills up my time in some sort of way."

Jayfeather seemed questionably satisfied with the answer. "I was joking, but I guess that works," he added, "Eventually cats are going to assume you want to be a medicine cat." The blind cat pointed out.

"Yeah, but in all reality I'm not."

The conversation ended, and Jayfeather looked back in front of him. Whitepaw thought, _Wait, how come he was still able to know where he was going? Oh, duh, his other senses help him__._

They both continued on the path to the catmint garden. Whitepaw had hoped there could have been a bit more talking on this trip, but she got what she got. Soon enough, they reached the place.

It looked like what Whitepaw had thought of in her head, but looks a bit more stable than she thought. She and Jayfeather walked towards the house, but was blocked by a wall. Jayfeather jumped up while Whitepaw tried. She pounced and struggled to keep balance. Once she did, the apprentice jumped down onto the other side.

They padded to the Twoleg garden and began to look around; or in this case, Jayfeather looked around while Whitepaw wondered what to do.

After a few seconds of looking, Whitepaw asked, "So, what does catmint exactly look like?"

The tom looked over to Whitepaw. "Catmint are small green stalks. If you find one, don't bite all of it off; leave a bit of it there to let it grow again."

"Okay."

Whitepaw looked around the garden, hoping for any hint of the plant. She looked under fallen leaves and dug at the dirt to find some. She then spotted a green color, and went towards it hopefully. She inspected it, but wasn't sure if it was the herb.

She looked over to Jayfeather. "Is this it?"

The medicine cat walked over to the apprentice's finding. He put his nose up to it, and began to bite a piece of it off. When he did, he then dryly said, "Well done."

Whitepaw smiled. She went back to look for more when Jayfeather called her back. He had found a bigger piece of catmint elsewhere.

Padding over to it, Whitepaw said, "Oh, cool." There were about five small stalks all clumped together there.

"Take a few and put it over there," instructed Jayfeather, pointing to a tiny pile of the herbs with his tail. Whitepaw began to help.

When she thought she had gotten what she could, she placed the bunch on the small pile. Jayfeather placed a few more onto it. When he did, he then split the bunch in half.

"We can take them back now," he said. He took one of the batches and began to walk in the direction of camp.

Whitepaw took the other half and caught up with him, padding alongside him as he kept going. They walked together in silence, but it was anything but silence in Whitepaw's mind. _Okay, I need to know when we can hang out again. Or gather herbs, or whatever you call it. I think I just need to talk to him a bit more so we can have a friendly conversation eventually._

She looked over to him. She wished she knew what the tom was thinking, so she could know if he at least thought of her in a good way. She even wondered what would happen if they did become friends. The thought made Whitepaw smile.

They reached camp, padded past their clanmates, and into the medicine den. Foxleap was still asleep, but Briarlight wasn't in the den at the moment, so Whitepaw assumed she was somewhere hidden in the crowd outside in the clearing. Jayfeather put the herbs on a shelf in the storage, and then waited outside the entrance of the storage while Whitepaw put her own bunch of herbs away.

The apprentice walked into the middle of the main room. She didn't exit immediately, since she needed to ask the tabby tom something. She turned to him and asked, "So...when can we do this again?" _Did I seriously just quote that song?_

"Are you sure you don't to be a medicine cat?" Jayfeather joked.

"Positive."

Jayfeather got up and sat down under the doorway of the medicine store. "You can help me again when I need you. Now, why don't you be a normal warrior apprentice and go on a hunting patrol."

Whitepaw somewhat agreed with him. "I might just do that, since Bramblestar may be trying to find me and put me on one." She wasn't able to remember that he wouldn't be putting her on any patrols that day.

Jayfeather didn't say anything more, and went into the herb store and looked around it. Whitepaw turned around to leave, saying, "Bye."

It was barely audible, but Whitepaw could have sworn she had heard Jayfeather reply with, "Goodbye."

Whitepaw smiled widely. She walked out into the clearing to find Blossomfall so she could tell about her day. Even though she would be giving hints away about her small feelings toward Jayfeather, she still wanted to share the recent memory with someone.

Fortunately, Blossomfall was seen near the warriors den. Whitepaw thankfully walked towards her, only to be halted by the clan deputy. Squirrelflight smiled she said to the apprentice, "Greetings, Whitepaw."

Whitepaw let her shyness take over her. "Oh, um...hi." She felt impatient about the small delay.

"I don't think we've spoken to each other much before. I just wanted to greet you for a moment."

"Okay."

Squrrelflight then padded away from Whitepaw. Ignoring what had just happened, Whitepaw continued padding towards Blossomfall. The dappled she-cat wasn't where the apprentice last saw her.

Whitepaw assumed she had left to go to the warriors den, but if so then Whitepaw would have wanted to just wait until she came out. She didn't want to go into the warriors den, and even if she did, she didn't want to ask anyone where Blossomfall is if she wasn't even in there.

Looking around for a different friend, the apprentice spotted Cherrypaw. Whitepaw sighed, and then walked over to the she-cat. Sadly enough, Cherrypaw was the only other she-cat friend she has that was close to her age; even though Blossomfall isn't around her age, Whitepaw assumed anyway, the dappled she-cat was a more mature friend.

Cherrypaw was munching on a sparrow as Whitepaw padded up to her. The white cat asked, "Cherrypaw, do you want to hang out with me?"

The young cat looked up, then nodded. "Sure. Want to walk in the forest?" Whitepaw nodded. "Let's go."

The two she-cats immediately ambled into the chilly, bright forest, which was under a late morning sky. Whitepaw still wished she could have found Blossomfall, but Cherrypaw wouldn't be suspicious of Whitepaw's story with Jayfeather; which by the way, she was still going to tell.

Walking down a path, Whitepaw stayed silent, as did Cherrypaw. It was only after Whitepaw thought they were a good distance away from camp when she let her excitement out.

"Cherrypaw, can I tell you a small story?" Whitepaw asked, sounding cheerful.

Cherrypaw's ears perked up when the word 'story' was said. "Sure!"

Whitepaw began. "So...earlier this morning, I went into the forest to pick herbs with Jayfeather. We talked a bit, and picked catmint. Then we went back to camp."

Cherrypaw looked at her with disappointment as huge as the plumpest mouse. "How is that interesting?" She tilted her head to the side a bit.

The answer wouldn't be that tough to answer, since Whitepaw had simply said, "I got to hang out with the medicine cat." Now hearing it out loud, Whitepaw thought it sounded wrong. _I need to do better with my choice of words_, Whitepaw thought.

"But you've done that before. Do you want to _be_ a medicine cat?"

"No."

"Alright." Cherrypaw changed the subject. "So, singing." The apprentice's eyes lit up. She begged, "Now that we are out of camp, can you sing to me?"

Whitepaw's happiness turned to nervousness. _I should have remembered that_. "How about...you show me a cool place in ThunderClan territory?" Whitepaw quickly said.

Cherrypaw immediately went along with the suggestion. "Oh, good idea! I know the perfect place." The ginger cat shot ahead, making Whitepaw have to keep up with her, yet still relieved that she didn't have to sing.

Whitepaw had no idea where they were going, but she knew she would need to take a break from running soon before she would need to pretty much beg Cherrypaw to stop. Luckily, their sprinting didn't last long, and they entered into a different part of the forest that Whitepaw hasn't witnessed.

It was very far into the territory, since the place looked like RiverClan's place. There was a pool of water, about the size of a monster. It wasn't very deep, since you could see the sandy bottom. Two smooth, giant rocks were on the other side of the pool, sitting a bit lodged into the ground. The pool looked clean for an unknown reason, but Whitepaw didn't care. The place looked like a beautiful place to be at.

"Cool. How come this was never mentioned in the books?" Whitepaw asked herself, mystified how this place was never told.

Cherrypaw unexpectedly answered, "I don't know. But I found it when Molepaw and I were adventuring the territory. We call it the Water Shine Place."

Whitepaw sat down near the pool. "Why do you call it that?"

"Because since we were out venturing during the night when we found it, the moon was bright enough to make the water look like it was glowing."

Whitepaw realized something in the sentence. "Wait, you snuck out one night?"

"Yeah, and we were lucky we didn't get caught."

Whitepaw pointed out, "Very lucky."

Whitepaw padded over to the two rocks. They kind of reminded her of her home, since there were also two giant rocks in her front yard. She jumped up into the rock nearest of her, and immediately felt the warmth of it's surface. She laid down on it and let the heat seep into her pelt. The white cat thought,_ They should have found this in the day time._

Cherrypaw hopped onto the other rock. She laid down as well and seemed to enjoy the heat, too. Whitepaw would make this her new quiet spot, but she liked her current one too much; plus, Molepaw and Cherrypaw might already be hanging out here on a regular basis.

Whitepaw laid there for a few minutes, thinking. Out of randomness, she said, "Just to say, I have had a wonderful time in the Warriors world. I'm friends with you, the other apprentices, Blossomfall, and maybe Briarlight and Jayfeather. I got to fight, I helped gather herbs, I'm on my way to be a warrior, and I went to Gatherings. And if I ever go back to my human world, I would miss you guys."

Cherrypaw looked over to Whitepaw smiling. "I'm happy you like it here." She turned back and rested her head on the rock.

Suddenly, Molepaw ran into the clearing. He panted as he walked around the pool to the rocks. He quickly gained some of his breath back and looked up at the two she-cats. Cherrypaw didn't seem bothered by Molepaw's sudden appearance, but Whitepaw was questioning it. The she-cat shrugged it off, since she ended up thinking it wasn't that important.

Molepaw's eyes widened, and then glared at Cherrypaw. "I thought this would be a secret place, just between you and me!"

"I trust Whitepaw to keep this a secret, right?" Cherrypaw glanced over to Whitepaw.

Whitepaw agreed. "Yes, I will keep this a secret." She for some reason felt like she was lying, though, but didn't know why.

The ginger cat looked back to her brother. "See?"

Molepaw walked over to the base of Cherrypaw's rock and laid down. "Fine."

The three apprentices then laid there in silence. Whitepaw's mind wandered to the subject of Jayfeather. The longer she hung out with him, the more she was happy around him. She thought, _Maybe the next time we hang out, I could figure out how to make him laugh. That's one way to get a guy to like you more, I think. And I need _him_ to make the first move. He needs to be the one to ask me to hang out with him, on an official hang out. Wow, I sound like a total girly teenager._

Whitepaw shook the thought away from her head and focused on something else. But what else was there to talk about? She _still_ wasn't used to having limited things to talk or do.

But complaining about it was useless. And what does it matter anyway if she had nothing much to think or talk about? She had to get used to change at some point. But that's just who she is.

_And limited things to talk or do was worth being here._

**Well ****this took forever. But it's done. So yeah, here's another casual chapter.**

**And just to mix things up a bit...**

**I want you guys to ask Whitepaw questions, sort of like an 'Ask Whitepaw' thing. In the next chapter, she will answer most of those questions in these little notes. So ask as many as you want!**

**See you guys later!**


	15. Chapter 15

**Time to answer those questions! I revised one or two...**

**Question: Dear Whitepaw, Do you have to be a teen, I mean there are so ****many fanfictions already where teens get turned into warriors. Why can't you be 11?**

**Whitepaw's Answer: Well, I guess StarClan decided I should have been turned into a Warriors cat when I was 15. I did become a Warriors fan when I was 11, though. But good thing they didn't turn me into a cat when I was that age. I don't think I would have been smart enough to figure out what the heck to do, to be honest...**

**Question: What is your favorite app in the human world?**

**Whitepaw's Answer: I don't really know. I was stuck on this one app, though, called 'Flappy Golf'. Ever since I got that I tried to complete every single level, collect every single thing, etc. I get addicted to puzzle games, And I end up wanting to master everything and win all the achievements.**

**Question: Are you a cat that you made up in the past when writing a fanfiction (if you wrote any at all), or a cat you never thought up?**

**Whitepaw's Answer: Yes, I am cat I made up. I don't know, one day I was imagining what it was like to be in this world, and so I had to think of an OC for myself. And I never wrote ****fanfictions, I'm not really into that stuff, well, writing it anyway. I'm more like a singer, if I get the nerve to sing in front of people, and a musician.**

**Question: Are you a brony?**

**Whitepaw's Answer: Yes! I became one when I wondered why the heck it was so popular, and so I watched the first episode. I got hooked for life!**

**I hope you enjoy the answers. :)**

About a quarter moon later, Whitepaw was once again out in the forest, except this time Leafpool had asked to bring her with instead of Jayfeather. The apprentice was slightly disappointed, and was actually nervous because the main medicine cat wanted to see her, which to her meant trouble. The two she-cats had left after Whitepaw was done training for the day. In other news, her scratches had mostly healed and Bramblestar and noticed her fixed leg, having her go on patrols again.

Whitepaw walked alongside Leafpool quietly as they padded into the freezing forest. The weather had gotten worse, and Whitepaw was both excited and anxious about the winter, both feelings being towards the snow. She never got snow due to where she lives in her old life, except for that one time she went to a place up in the mountains. So in the end, it's a win-lose situation.

After they were well away from camp, Leafpool began to speak to Whitepaw in a somewhat-serious voice. "Whitepaw, I have been meaning to speak with you for a while."

Whitepaw said in a casual voice, "Yeah?" The only thing on the apprentice's mind right now was that she wished she was curled up in her nest sleeping or something.

"You seem to be around the medicine cat den a lot."

_Yes, captain obvious_, thought Whitepaw. "Yeah, I just kind of like it there."

"Yes. Though, you do enjoy your warrior training?"

"Yeah."

Leafpool kinked her tail and looked at the young apprentice. "Do you know what you would like to be when you are done with your training?"

"Why are you asking this stuff?" Whitepaw said, sounding a bit rude. She could have snapped at the she-cat for being so questionable, but she did the best she could not to. For some reason, she hated being questioned a lot, but that was probably due to some ignorant questions she's been asked at school once in a while; student and teacher.

The medicine cat looked a bit shocked, but calmly replied, "Would you like me to be honest?"

"Yes." The apprentice was glad that the tabby could take a hint.

Leafpool sighed. "I think you want to be a medicine cat. You seem more inclined to be around the medicine cat than your warrior training. Though, I have heard you once say you don't want to be a medicine cat, and I apologize for over-hearing that. But are you so sure?"

Whitepaw felt mutual with the situation. She simply said, "No, I don't want to be a medicine cat."

"Then why?"

Whitepaw didn't want to hesitate for an answer for the fifth or so time. "I don't know. I just like to be around there and helping out Jayfeather," she quickly added, "...and you." _Mousedung, I messed it up._

The tabby didn't notice the apprentice's slip-up. "You like to pass the time with helping us?" Leafpool seemed to be easier to answer than the rest who asked, and Whitepaw was grateful.

Whitepaw nodded in response.

Leafpool stopped walking and sat down, and covered her paws with her tail. Whitepaw sat down too, and felt freezing on the grassy ground. She really wished that she was in her nest.

The medicine cat spoke again. "I see. But I think you should minimize your helping to twice or so every moon. Maybe less. I don't want you to be distracted from your duties to be doing something that isn't required."

Whitepaw understood, but was disappointed that she wouldn't be able to hang around Jayfeather anymore. _But it's for the best. I am not supposed to fall in love with a medicine cat in the first place. But knowing myself, I won't listen to what's right for the most part._

Whitepaw quietly sighed. "Okay, I understand," she said, trying to sound normal.

"Good. I already told Jayfeather, and agreed with letting you go. He did say he appreciated all the help that you've given; even if you had a bit of trouble with it at first." Leafpool got onto all fours, getting ready to leave. "I'm happy you agree. I just don't want you to fall behind on what you need to do rather than do something else that you want for fun. Even if some cats are all right with it." The older she-cat walked away, disappearing into the undergrowth.

What should have been on her mind was how she would figure out how to be around Jayfeather, being typical, but what Leafpool said had rung a bell in Whitepaw's head. It just reminded her of her old life. Being angered by remembering the memory, she shook her head and walked away, trying to forget about it.

Eventually, she was able to distract herself with the thought of going to the Sky Oak. She hadn't been there for a while, since she had been occupied with training for once. Bramblestar and Squirrelflight must have noticed her procrastinating, for she felt like she was getting more duties than ever.

She reached the tree, and walked to her grassy spot between the tree and the shore. The cat plopped down and rested her head onto her paws. After a few minutes of quietness and stillness, she began to become sleepy. Earlier that day, she had been on a dawn patrol, a hunting patrol, plus training, and they seemed to be catching up to her; furthermore, the setting right now was lulling her.

Whitepaw closed her eyes, and soon she was in a peaceful sleep. A dream began to form, but not one that StarClan had summoned her to see them. She was in a forest, though she didn't know if it was ThunderClan's territory or somewhere else. It was night time, along with the moon shining down to grant light. She wasn't in control of it. It was just a dream, or so she thought.

She was sitting in the middle of a clearing staring ahead. Soon, she saw a cat walk out of the shadows of the looming trees above. It was a gray tabby tom. Jayfeather.

The medicine cat was looking around, confused, though Whitpaw was glad to meet him there. She got up and ran over to him. Jayfeather looked over to her and smiled.

Whitepaw was about to say something cheery, but instead asked, "What are you doing here?" She was confused as of why this was happening, but wasn't aware that it was a dream.

"I came here to tell you something." He padded past her, and then turned back to look at her. Whitepaw was nervous and anxious about what he had to say.

Jayfeather sat down before he spoke. "I know that you love me."

Whitepaw's heart dropped. She didn't kow what to do or say. She tried to speak, but jumbled words came out. "Oh...uh...how...when...why...how...what..."

"It's okay, I don't mind," said Jayfeather, calmly. Whitepaw froze, and her stomach turned in knots. This wasn't supposed to happen. She felt slightly calmer when he said he didn't mind, but still.

Jayfeather put his cheek up to Whitepaw's, purring. Whitepaw's pelt burned hot, and she was actually uncomfortable; though she didn't pull away until Jayfeather did.

The tabby tom's happy expression turned to anger and disgust, along with the atmosphere becoming sinister. Whitepaw became confused and worried, and asked, "What's wrong?"

"The question you should be asking is what's wrong with you? You're different. I know what you have and it's bad for the clan. I would love you too if you didn't have it."

Whitepaw's heart broke into a thousand pieces. No one has ever said that to her. She felt like curling up and crying, but contained herself from doing so. She just felt like someone stabbed her in the heart.

"What are you saying? How do you know? I thought you of all cats would understand..." Whitepaw bent down and closed her eyes, keeping tears from falling.

"I'm sorry, but you are useless if you can't do what others can." He walked away without another word. His tail tip vanished as he went back into the forest.

Whitepaw wanted to get out of there, but she couldn't move. The next thing she knew was that she was engulfed in complete darkness. The first thing she thought of was to panic, since she hates the dark, though she got used to it in camp since whatever threatening things she imagines aren't small enough to be in camp.

She then heard voices all around her, mocking her. They were cats from ThunderClan.

"Really? I should probably do that for you."

"Are you sure? Is there a cure? No? Well, I am sorry for that."

"You can't do those things? You might as well leave camp."

She was suddenly wisked in front of the entire clan, and she was staring at Bramblestar, who was looking down upon her from the Highledge.

"You should have told me earlier that you are unable to do these things. If you can't do it, you should just move to the elders."

"But I can! I'm not useless!" screamed Whitepaw, begging.

"You just said so yourself. I'm sorry I have to do this."

Whitepaw immediately got transported back to darkness, and Blossomfall was standing in front of her. The tortoiseshell looked disappointed. "I thought you were capable of things. But if you can't cooperate with us then you can't do anything."

Whitepaw whimpered, "But you should understand! What about the other apprentice's and even Briarlight? She has to understand."

"You use yours weakness as an excuse. Briarlight uses her disability as an advantage and builds stronger with it. You choose to be weak."

Whitepaw tried to argue, but she could barely make words. "I'm sorry...I just..."

"And you can't be trusted with younger cats, and Cherrypaw and Molepaw, even if they are older. You've been brainwashing them with Twoleg things."

Whitepaw's heart felt like it got stabbed a thousand times rather than once. She didn't know what to say. "I thought we were friends..."

Blossomfall leaned towards Whitepaw and looked at her in the eye. "I can't be friends with someone who I can't trust."

Whitepaw woke up from her dream and shot up from her resting spot. Her head was filled with fear and paranoia from her nightmare. She was shaking, and felt like what she had just dreamt was real. She got up to walk around to calm down, but was too focused on her thoughts. She ended up accidentally knocking her head against the trunk of the Sky Oak. She sat down immediately.

_StarClan, I probably needed that to calm down. And what was that dream? I wasn't thinking about _that_. I was just-okay, just calm down, calm down, calm down, calm down, calm down..._

The white she-cat laid back down and tried to get a hold of herself. The first thing she thought about it was the Jayfeather bit. She knew he wouldn't judge others through differences, but she was just confused as of why she would dream about him knowing both those things. And she knew she needed to avoid him for a few days in order to get that romance part out of her dream. She would be reminded of it if she saw him that day.

Secondly, she would never worry about anything like this. She never needed to worry...

She stopped dwelling on the subject, and tried to walk back to camp. She wanted to express this to someone to calm down. She could say it to herself, but that wouldn't be enough.

She walked into camp, but felt uneasy about it. She felt like everyone was watching her, though she double checked and know no one was. She decided to go look for Molepaw for a change instead of a she-cat. She easily found him in the apprentice den.

For the past quarter moon, it was as if Cherrypaw and Molepaw had grown to adult cats, which they probably were. Molepaw and Cherrypaw looked like they were warriors, and their voices had grown with their age.

Molepaw, who was in his nest, looked up at Whitepaw, but then got a worried look on his face. "What's got you all shaken up? You look like you've seen an entire batch of foxes, and then a squirrel messed up your fur."

Whitepaw looked across her pelt. He was right; her pelt was a bit fluffed up and messed up. But she didn't bother with it as she laid down in her own nest.

The white cat sighed heavily, and then began. "Okay, I know this sounds crazy, but I had a nightmare where everycat in the clan thought I was useless. They called me helpless and weak, and Bramblestar said I had to go to the elder's den, and Blossomfall said I used my uselessness as an excuse." She settled deeper into her nest.

Molepaw looked at her sympathetically. He didn't hesitant when he said, "But you aren't useless. You can do things, you've been doing it for over three moons. Yes, you have skipped out on quite a lot of patrols, and you hide yourself out in the forest a lot, and-"

"That's not really helping..." Whitepaw pointed out.

"Sorry. What I'm saying is, is that you aren't useless or weak with your duties, or anything. For hunting and battle training, you're better than any Twoleg I could have imagined." The tom looked a bit nervous while saying those words, but Whitepaw didn't question it.

Whitepaw purred, happy to hear positive words. Molepaw had become a better friend bit by bit, and she was happy she was a good friend with a tom, not that a she-cat isn't bad to be friends with.

"Thanks. I needed that." She wanted to rest, but she didn't want to be pulled back into the nightmare realm again.

Suddenly, Jayfeather, surprisingly, came in. He looked over to Whitepaw, who didn't really need to have heart-attack from her crush in real life this time.

"Whitepaw, can I see you for a moment?"

Whitepaw, for the thousandth time, was about to nod before she remembered and said 'okay'.

The two cats made their way over to the medicine cat den. Jayfeather padded over to the medicine store, and Whitepaw couldn't help but finally ask, "Why are you always checking over there?"

Jayfeather looked like he was about to snap something, but instead said calmly, "I...I just want to make sure we have enough to make it through Leaf-bare." He was in there for a minute before he came out of the store and up to Whitepaw. He nervously asked, "What's going to happen?"

"What...?"

"What's going to happen later on? A storm? An invasion? More death?" He sighed, telling the truth. "I haven't gotten any message from StarClan since the battle. You're all I've got to send me a message."

Whitepaw tried to act quickly in Jayfeather's act of panic. She quietly said, "Okay, just calm down-"

"Calm down?" Jayfeather snapped. "Of course you wouldn't understand the _stress_ of a medicine cat!" Whitepaw flinched. Jayfeather's gaze softened. "I'm sorry. I'm just scared..."

Whitepaw decided she might as well tell him. "I know one thing."

"What is it? Anything. I need some sort of warning."

Whitepaw sighed. "I hate to be StarClan, but all I know is that there is going to be some sort of storm in a few moons in Spring-I mean New-leaf."

"Thanks for being StarClan," Jayfeather said, sarcastically.

"I'm sorry, but that's all I know. The book wasn't out yet, so all I knew was that there was going to be some sort of storm."

Jayfeather looked to be thinking when Whitepaw said that. He then made a sudden decision that didn't exactly surprise Whitepaw. "I need to go to the Moonpool, with Lionblaze and Dovewing. Now."

Whitepaw just said, "Okay," she then added, "But when will you be back?"

"Later today. And thank you for the small warning. I have some saneness back for now." He ran out of the den, leaving Whitepaw alone.

Whitepaw was about to exit too when Leafpool came in. She looked at Whitepaw with a confused expression. The tabby began to say, "I thought I just-"

Whitepaw explained before the cat made her own conclusion. "Jayfeather asked me something and he brought me here to ask it."

Leafpool sighed, looking relieved. "Oh, I was thinking that you came here yourself."

Whitepaw began to near herself over to the den's exit. "Well...I'll be leaving now."

"Alright. Now stay out of trouble, and don't go near the medicine den unless we really need you."

"Okay."

The apprentice then left the den. When she did, she saw Jayfeather talking with Dovewing and Lionblaze near the edge of the camp. She could only hope that this would calm him down.

Before she went anywhere else, Molepaw appeared in front of her. He had a smile on his face, making Whitepaw wonder.

"Hey," Molepaw started, "Want to walk the forest with me?"

Whitepaw immediately agreed. "Sure."

Soon, they were roaming the forest and talking about upcoming Leaf-bare. It for some reason felt easier to talk to Molepaw than anyone else. Whitepaw felt like she could speak normally around him.

Speaking of Leaf-bare, the clan thinks it would start snowing after the next Gathering. Another thing that Whitepaw would keep forgetting is how there would be less food. And being a Twoelg, that would be tough to get used to.

The day was sunny with a few clumps of clouds here and there, but not enough to cover the sun. It was still cold even as the day went futher, and frost seemed to be forming on the trees.

Molepaw and Whitepaw had talked all the way until they reached the the Water Shine Place. Whitepaw laid down near the pool while Molepaw laid down next to her.

Whitepaw ended their winter conversation. "Yeah...Leaf-bare will be a complete torture for me."

Molepaw shrugged. "You'll get used to it."

They both looked into the pool. It's clear reflection showed the sky with a mirror image. Whitepaw looked at her own reflection in it. Now that she did, she never actually looked at herself ever since she came there. Now that she was seeing herself, she was awed at how she looked. It was really strange looking at herself with fur and ears on top of her head and those eyes she has. She was surprised to find that they were dark brown all along.

"What are you doing?" Molepaw asked, breaking Whitepaw from her trance.

"Oh, I was just looking at my reflection."

"You haven't looked at your reflection since you've come here?" Molepaw looked into the pool with her. "I thought you might have once or twice."

"I guess I never paid attention."

After a few seconds, Molepaw asked, "Have you ever tried swimming?"

Whitepaw looked at Molepaw through the water. "As a cat or a Twoleg?"

"Twoleg."

"Yes, most Twoleg's learn to swim at a young age. Others at other ages. Some never." The apprentices looked away from the water.

They both replied to each other at the same moment. Whitepaw said, "How 'bout I try now?" While Molepaw said, "How about you try now?"

Whitepaw giggled from their coincidence. "Oh, sorry. Uh...then I'll be going to the lake now. Want to try with me?"

Molepaw looked confused. "I was joking, I didn't think you'd actually want to."

"Why not? Oh, yeah, 'only RiverClan swim'. But I still want to try."

Molepaw went along with it. "Okay. Then let's go."

As soon as they reached the lake, it eventually occured to Whitepaw that it might be too cold for her to swim.

Molepaw urged her to go in. "Oh, come on. It can't be that bad," he teased.

"Okay, I'll try."

They were near the Sky Oak, which was where they were headed since Whitepaw led. Whitepaw slowly went up to the shore, feeling the sand under her paws. The water was calm, which would be good. She put one paw in the water to feel it, and it turned out to be cold.

Preparing herself to freeze her fur off, she jumped in. The cold water surrounded her, and her fur got soaked immediately. Whitepaw began to work her paws to swim, but it was a bit tough since her paws weren't as large as human hands. It took her a few seconds to get the hang of it before she was able to swim perfectly fine.

She looked over to Molepaw, who had a face of surprise. He commented, "Woah...I didn't know you could be able to swim _this_ good!"

"Thanks," replied Whitepaw.

Molepaw started to snicker. "Haha, you sort of look like a fish now!"

Whitepaw swam over to where Molepaw was laughing and splashed water onto him. He didn't get very wet, but he had some fur that caught the water droplets. He moved away as Whitepaw began to laugh.

"Hey!" Molepaw came back and tried to splash water onto Whitepaw.

"Woah, what the...!" Whitepaw swam away from where Molepaw was spraying the water at her.

They started to have a mini water fight, but it quickly ended. They both calmed down, panting. Whitepaw got out and shook her fur, making sure not to hit Molepaw. Molepaw was grooming his own pelt.

After a few seconds of silence, Molepaw said to Whitepaw, "You're really fun to hang around, Whitepaw."

Whitepaw's pelt heated up from the compliment. She shyly said, "Oh...uh...okay..."

"I, uh, hope we can hang out again."

"Okay."

Molepaw started to head back to camp while Whitepaw stayed where she was. Molepaw looked back, flicking his tail to tell her to join him, but Whitepaw replied, "I'll just stay here for a bit. I'll see you back at camp."

Molepaw nodded, and then raced into the forest. Whitepaw laid down and began to form a very strange thought. It didn't disturb her or interest her.

_Does he like me?_

**What did I do? I put a horrific dream in here and now I've made a new shipping. HOW!? XD**

**And so what DO you think about the dream? I've made a few hints here and ****there (or tried) and now I put a dream here to have you all be guessing: what does it mean? **

**Sorry this is so late, but summer is almost here and I hope to update more when it comes. So, that's it for now. Bye!**


	16. Chapter 16

Whitepaw looked up at a bee-infested hive, feeling a bit nervous about the plan. She looked over at Jayfeather and said, over the buzzing noise, "Are you sure you need honey?"

Jayfeather responded just loud enough so Whitepaw could hear. "Yes, we are lucky to have found this and we don't have any in store." Jayfeather was a bit far from the tree where the hive was while Whitepaw was standing closer to the tree.

It was now a quarter moon later, and Jayfeather had requested for her to get some honey with him. She agreed even though she would be the one to risk getting stung in the process. Before this, when Jayfeather went to the Moonpool, he didn't notify anyone about what he had witnessed, only saying he understood what happened to his and the other's powers. Whitepaw didn't question it, since she knew she wouldn't be getting an answer.

This morning, when Jayfeather had asked for Whitepaw for help with the honey gathering, Leafpool was uncertain mostly because she was concerned for Whitepaw. Jayfeather inclined that he really needed the apprentice, and eventually Leafpool gave in. Leafpool could have gone herself, but she needed to stay and watch Foxleap incase he needed anything. His wounds were still there, but are getting healed slowly but surely.

Now, the plan was to have Whitepaw climb up the tree and try to cut the hive from one side and grab a honey comb or two. Jayfeather had a large leaf below the hive's branch so Whitepaw can try to drop the honey combs onto it. Success depended on whether or not the bees would be harsh at that time. Though, Whitepaw didn't know if her record of messing up would make her part of the plan more of a failure or the fact she wasn't afraid of bees turn it into a better shot.

Whitepaw nervously glanced at Jayfeather, who was signaling her to go up the tree. The apprentice walked slowly to the trunk, trying to fade out the buzzing noise that got louder as she approuched it. She reached the tree and dug your front claws into the bark. She then jumped and planted all her claws into the side of the tree.

While the she-cat was slowly climbing, she heard Jayfeather ask, "Are you climbing?"

"Yeah."

"So far, so good."

Whitepaw made it onto the lower branches of the tree, and started to climb upon those to reach the hive's. She carefully placed her paws onto the final branch, making sure that it wouldn't shake the hive too much. She started to walk along it, but it was a bit tough because it was barely wider than a solid brick.

Not thinking, she drew her attention away for a second to look at Jayfeather, but kept walking along the branch. He was still far from the tree, but was looking around. Whitepaw guessed he couldn't hear anything apart from the buzzing.

Unfortunately, Whitepaw's brief distraction caused her to slip and fall off the branch. She fell off to the left, but caught the branch with her front paws.

"Woah!" Whitepaw yelped, as she tried to hang on. She outstretched her claws as far as they could and tried to dig them deep into the wood to keep from falling.

Jayfeather looked up towards Whitepaw and asked, "What happened?"

Whitepaw said, quickly, "I looked away for one second without thinking, and I fell off the branch. I'm dangling now..." Her claws started to drag down the rounded side, but she kept trying to hang on.

Without looking, she could sense that he was groaning from her mistake. Jayfeather exclaimed, "Mousedung, Whitepaw! Try to get back on before you fall!"

Due to Whitepaw lacking that kind of strength, she started to slip off her branch more and more as her claws scraped against it. She tried to pull herself up, but it only let her slide closer and closer to the hive a few mouse-lengths beside her. After many tries, she was now right next to the hive, and the buzzing was unbearable to the white she-cat.

The only way she could get out of this was to jump. She looked down to make sure she would land on anything harmful, but there wasn't anything _to_ land one. She might be injured if she did this, because she felt way too high to make it down without a bruise or worse.

Whitepaw was about to risk the jump when about five bees perched on her. Panicking, let go of the branch, but accidentally snagged the hive as she tried to swat the bees away. She and the hive both crashed to the ground. Whitepaw landed on her side while the hive cracked open next to her.

Not checking if she was hurt, she got up and ran before she would get stung. Jayfeather looked to already have started moving. _He must have heard the crash and assumed that it broke,_ thought Whitepaw. Jayfeather looked to have a panic stricken face as he turned and begin to run. Whitepaw sped after him, jumping over a fern in her way out of the clearing.

With a burst of speed, the apprentice was able to catch up to the medicine cat. They spent the next few moments running from the hive's range, dodging and ducking over floral in their path. Whitepaw began to hesitate for a split second whether or not if it was a good idea to follow a blind cat running through a forest. But she quickly dismissed it, thinking he was capable of not hitting anything or injuring himself.

They both began to slow down and stopped running as they entered a patch of ferns, grass, and moss, perfect for resting, coincidentally. Jayfeather sat down as Whitepaw just fell to the ground in exhaustion. There was only silence, other than both of the cats panting.

Though, the quietness didn't last very long. Jayfeather started speaking to Whitepaw in a greatly annoyed voice. "Foxdung, why weren't you careful?"

Whitepaw was still panting heavily, but she lifted herself off the ground anyway and sat up. She was able to get these words out in between breaths. "I...was...distracted..."

The medicine cat rolled his eyes. "Being distracted isn't worth having bees infest part of a territory!" He sighed, and then changed the subject for a second. "Speaking of distractions, you tend to find them a lot. What's with you?"

Whitepaw would have yelled the answer, but that time hasn't come yet. She took in a deep breath and responded, "I just _am_ distracted. There is no reason."

"That's not an answer. Who knows? Maybe if you were distracted enough, you could have seriously hurt yourself back there! Is something wrong?" Jayfeather urged, actually sounding a bit concerned. Though the irritation showed as his fur raised a bit.

Whitepaw began to actually get mad. She knew that the tom was stubborn a bit, but she doesn't have to tell him now. She dryly said, "_Nothing_ is wrong. Absolutely _nothing_."

The tom swished his tail in frustration. He was going to say another remark, but he took a deep breath and let his fur flatten. He walked closer to the apprentice and stood in front of her. Whitepaw figured he got some sense and decided to calm down. He gently said, "You can say what's bothering you. I can't sit by and watch you in pain."

Whitepaw flattened her ears and glared at the tom. "Pain?" She snapped. "Pain? Are...you..." Whitepaw slowed her speech as she realized that she might say something hurtful to him. She sighed, and then apologized. "Sorry. Okay fine. I know this may seem repetitive by this point, but I can't tell you. You literally _wouldn't_ understand."

Jayfeather sighed in annoyance. "As you just said, yes, that phrase has been repeated one too many times. But I've heard of secrets that may be worse than yours."

"It may not be bad, but you won't understand it-"

Jayfeather interrupted. "I have gone through more than you, I'm sure. I can understand."

"No, you won't. You have never dealt with this before."

"Then what is it?"

Whitepaw paused. She just couldn't tell him. She let the conversation go by changing the subject. "We can talk about this later. Don't we have honey to collect?"

Jayfeather narrowed his eyes. He didn't say anything as he moved about the area towards the direction of where the hive is. Whitepaw started to follow him, but only after he was a few tail-lengths from her, since she didn't want to be near him at the moment. She quietly headed back behind him.

When they both reached the broken hive, a few bees were still there, but most of them had flown off and were nowhere to be seen. Jayfeather walked towards the hive and inspected it. Afterwards, he got a large leaf and began to collect honey combs.

Whitepaw hung back a few pawsteps. She watched, not wanting to interfere. During the small bit of time, she began to ponder her situation. She knew for a fact that by a large chance, Jayfeather would be the first to know. But he might misunderstand it and tell the clan something that might get Whitepaw in either trouble for not telling, or get treated weak like Jayfeather did when he had Brightheart as a mentor. _Trust me, the last thing I want is a repeat of my previous life._

The apprentice's thoughts were interrupted when Jayfeather spoke. He didn't look over to her, and he continued collecting as he said, "I guess the only positive thing I can say about this is that it has a convenient ending." Whitepaw didn't comment, nor care for what he said.

Even though the tom said something that made the failure look okay, Whitepaw still felt bad that she messed up the gather. She could have gotten seriously hurt, or hurt Jayfeather. With that in thought, she also started to regret having that argument earlier. But she just had to be patient with his stubborness.

The medicine cat eventually got all the honey combs he could carry, and then folded up the leaf. He picked up the honey comb pack and began to head back to camp. This time as they walked, Whitepaw followed closer behind.

The trip was silent for a few minutes before Jayfeather said something else. He had to stop and put the pack down before he did, though. Whitepaw stopped too, and sat down as the tom began.

Jayfeather turned to Whitepaw and sighed. He looked back and forth from the ground to the apprentice. "I'm sorry I got mad at you. For the distraction thing, I mean. You are losing focus too much, well, from the few times I've seen you. And that now proves to be true. Is it a Twoleg thing?"

Whitepaw didn't want to be mad anymore, so she calmly said her answer without hesitation. "No. Not really. Some of the population, yes. But not all."

"So, it's a part of who you are?"

Whitepaw had to think on that. No, it wasn't a part of her personality, but...wait. Why was she answering these questions anyway? Now that the thought had crossed her mind_, _she started to feel weak. Feeling as though she was being treated weak. Yet again, it triggered a memory from her life, but she tried to ignore it. She tried to focus on answering Jayfeather's question, but she also wanted to get going.

"No, not my personality, but technically-okay, can we go now?" Whitepaw said, impatiently.

Jayfeather's eyes widened in surprise. He started saying, slowly, "I just want to understand. You just seem-"

The apprentice cut the tom off. She stood up and held her head level height. She stared right into the tom's faded blue eyes and said, "I will tell you later." She then snapped, "I don't want to be answering _questions_ like that as if you're my _councilor_!" Before she knew it, Whitepaw had said it. She gasped and her eyes widened. She tried to then say, "I mean-I-I meant...I..." She trailed off, not knowing how to take back what she had told. She backed up a bit, but stopped when she felt her tail touch a bush.

Jayfeather was about to say something before he turned his head away. Everything fell deathly silent. The tom's ears perked up and he tasted the air. His fur instantly rose up, and he looked tense. Whitepaw tried to see what he was looking at, but didn't see anything.

As the medicine cat backed away from where he was looking, he warned the she-cat, "Whitepaw. We need to leave. Now. I can scent a fox coming this way."

Whitepaw's heart seemed to stop. Jayfeather began to move quicker towards the opposite path of where the fox must be. Whitepaw followed, abandoning the medicine. Now, the apprentice was able to pick up a foul scent, and it was coming closer. Before she knew it, Jayfeather began to run, and Whitepaw went after the tom quickly behind. They didn't run very far before they heard faded barking, but that only made them run faster.

They both pounced over obstacles and ducked under things as they ran as far away from the fox's path as possible. Whitepaw didn't look back, not that she would want to, and kept running as fast and as long as she could. They both suddenly burst into the shore of the lake. Both cats slowed themselves down before they would accidentally run headfirst into the water. They then plopped down onto the grass skirting the sand around the lake and tried to get their breath back.

Jayfeather eagerly tried to continue their previous conversation, much to Whitepaw's annoyance. He took a deep breath and turned to the apprentice before saying, "What did you mean: 'councilor'?"

Whitepaw whipped her head to the tom's direction and hissed, "Don't go back to that! I don't want to talk about it." She panted after she did that, since she didn't have much breath back before she spoke.

"I just want to understand!"

Whitepaw looked over to the tom. He looked desperate, too desperate for information. Whitepaw's glance at him made her remember what he's been through and how he is in situations. To be honest, he might _need_ the truth. But Whitepaw needed to wait, she _felt_ she needed to wait.

"I would tell you if I knew how you would react! Plus...well..." She thought for a moment before finishing her sentence. "I...don't know you that well as a friend." She had to make up another excuse, but this one was a bit true. He, again, might go ahead and make his own conclusion if she told him. If he was closer to her, then he would maybe listen like a friend rather than just for the information.

Jayfeather closed his eyes. Whitepaw didn't know what he was going to say, but she was still going to keep her muzzle shut about what she has.

Jayfeather responded. "I need to think about this when we get back to camp. We can leave now, if you want."

Whitepaw didn't hesitate. "Okay."

Together, they walked back to camp. It wasn't long before Whitepaw asked a question, whether just generally wanting an answer or to motion to a different conversation.

Her speech started out slow and quiet, but she quickly gained a steady voice by the end. "So, what are you going to do about that honey we left back there?"

Jayfeather simply said, "It won't go bad or anything. I can probably retrieve it after I know that fox is gone."

Another question sparked in Whitepaw's mind. "Would there be a specific reason why that fox randomly appeared?"

"I don't know. But it is starting to be leaf-bare, so it may be coming out early for food." It was quiet for the rest of the trip.

When they reached camp, they heard and saw a bunch of commotion going around. Everyone in the camp sounded either worried, glad, or upset. It was a weird set of reactions to, well, something that Whitepaw and Jayfeather missed, but what really got Whitepaw was a group of injured cats. She recognized them to be all the cats who trained in the Dark Forest. They looked so ragged and beaten up.

Suddenly, Bramblestar got on to the Highledge, and announced, "Let all cats old enough to catch their own prey gather here for a meeting!"

Jayfeather looked at Bramblestar in confusion, the same for Whitepaw. Whitepaw asked, turning to the tom, "Do you know what happened?"

He responded without turning to her. "No...but it must be bad."

Whitepaw thought she might as well alert this to him. "Yeah...and there are a few cats who are in need of your care too..."

"What?" Jayfeather cried. He scented around and widened his eyes. He said to Whitepaw, "I have to go."

Whitepaw didn't say anything, only watched him leave. She then took her attention to the Highledge, where Bramblestar was about to speak. She listened to the speech carefully, but only picked up a bit before wanting to move to the back of the hollow, feeling that her leader's voice was a bit too loud for her. She began to pad to the back, moving among cats, when she heard five cats being called up to the rock ledge. One of them was Blossomfall, which caught her attention. She didn't bother to move anymore, and sat down where she was, which was almost at the back with barely any cats near her, anyway.

Bramblestar started to speak of the five cats being tricked into fighting a fox, which Whitepaw assumed was the one she and Jayfeather ran into. He also said that everyone kept blaming them, which she already knew due to Blossomfall telling her. What she was glad to hear was that Bramblestar was finally saying how we should all respect them and not keep blaming them for their past mistakes.

Though, Whitepaw sort of lost attention when every cat in the hollow all chorused the word 'no' to a question Bramblestar had just asked to the clan. The only word Whitepaw could say, in her head, was 'ow' to how loud that was. Twice.

Suddenly, she saw Molepaw and Cherrypaw step up front. They for some reason apologized to Bramblestar, and said that something would never happen again. _What do they mean?_, Whitepaw thought.

After a few more words from Bramblestar, everyone broke apart. Whitepaw needed some answers from her friends.

She eventually was able to find Molepaw and Cherrypaw in the sea of cats, but they looked to be off to somewhere. The apprentice was able to stop them before they did, right near the apprentice's den.

Whitepaw asked, "Guys, what happened?"

Molepaw and Cherrypaw's eyes widened with worry. They looked at each other before Molepaw decided to answer. "You already heard what happened to those cats...but..." He trailed off, seeming that he doesn't want to finish his sentence.

Cherrypaw finished for him. "We..." She sighed. "we were the ones to trick them."

It took a second for Whitepaw to process how the story matched. Cherrypaw and Molepaw got the Dark Forest cats into a fox fight? They _did_ that?

Whitepaw couldn't believe it. "You're...you two are saying you tricked five cats who you didn't trust, because they trained in the Dark Forest, and had them risk getting killed in a fight against...a...fox..." Whitepaw's speech got softer and weaker. She couldn't believe her two friends would do that. No...they weren't her friends...

Molepaw explained in haste. "It wasn't like that! We just wanted to scare them!"

Cherrypaw supported her brother. "We didn't want to have them injured!"

Whitepaw didn't care if that was true or not, she knew that they risked cats' lives. Whitepaw, shockingly, lastly said, "One of them was my friend. She could have died. You put them in danger..." Whitepaw sadly looked down and walked away, leaving the apprentices standing there.

Whitepaw didn't think she could see them for a while...a long while. She couldn't believe they did that. She didn't know if she could forgive them, even if she tried to convince herself that after a week or so, she could.

* * *

Later that day, Whitepaw had just finished training. She avoided eye contact with Cherrypaw and Molepaw throughout the time, even if she did notice they were trying to get her attention. That made her remember another memory, which made things worse.

Right now, Whitepaw was laying in bed. She was a bit tired, but didn't feel like sleeping. She couldn't stop thinking of what Molepaw and Cherrypaw had done, but the same thought made Whitepaw get sick of it, so she tried to think of something else. She then thought of Jayfeather, who said he would think on something for the day. She didn't know what he meant, but she might learn sooner or later.

She was feeling kind of drowsy right when Lilypaw and Seedpaw came in. They took a few empty nests around Whitepaw, and laid down. Whitepaw lifted her head up. "What?" She then yawned, and her eyes drooped a bit.

Lilypaw asked, apologetically, "Oh, did we wake you from a nap?"

Whitepaw shook her head. "No, but I might have one."

Seedpaw then said, "Oh, okay. We just wanted to talk to you for a bit."

"Okay...about what?"

"Well...anything. You've kind of been ignoring us a bit recently. Is there something wrong?"

Whitepaw groaned inwardly. _Are we done? Can we _move_ from the subject?_ Her secret had to do with her liking for loneliness. "No," She said, trying not to sound irritated. "I just like to be alone more than others."

The two sisters looked at each other. Lilypaw said, "Oh, okay." Whitepaw quietly sighed, and thought, _Thank freaking StarClan!_

Seedpaw and Lilypaw got up and said, "See you later!" Whitepaw was then left by herself as the others exited the den.

Whitepaw then continued to lay about, but then eventually fell into a small nap that only lasted until it showed to be sunset. She opened her eyes and tried to adjust to the darkened room. She got up and stretched before padding outside into the fading sunlight. Cats still were up and about, but less were around, which she figured were on dusk patrol. The apprentice didn't know what to do to spend her time, so just laid back down in her nest again.

All of the sudden, a shadow was cast in the room. Whitepaw turned her head to see who was at the entrance, and saw that it was Jayfeather. Surprised, she didn't know what to do or say. She kind of just waited for a greeting.

Jayfeather walked over to Whitepaw and put his tail tip on her shoulder. Whitepaw sensed her pelt heating, and she felt like blushing. The tom said, "So, you said that you would tell me what's with you if you knew me well enough, didn't you?" Whitepaw responded with a 'yeah'. Jayfeather took his tail back. "Then I should get to know you better." The tabby gray tom actually sounded cheerful, or less bitter than usual, at the least.

Whitepaw's eyes widened and she felt her heart skip a beat. She nervously said, "Are you saying...that, um, we should be friends or something...not that I'm, uh, complaining..."

"Good. Because I want to take a walk in the forest with you. Come on, we're wasting daylight." The medicine cat walked out of the den without another word.

Whitepaw just laid their in shock. Was this happening? Was he actually asking her to walk in the forest with him...? _Wait, he's only doing this because he wants to know about what I have. I'll first mention that, and then...wait _another_ second. Maybe I could try to be his real friend, and get him to stop bothering with the subject. Or that could fail, but you know._

Whitepaw then quickly followed Jayfeather and caught up with him. She needed to ask something before they left to be sure. She walked beside him and questioned, "So, let me get this straight," She didn't bother being subtle with it. "You're only hanging out with me because you want to know my secret?"

Jayfeather simply said, "There's more to it. I want to test you."

Whitepaw sworn she could have wanted to bash her head open against a tree. "You're kidding right?" She reassuringly said, "You don't even know how the test to figure it out works! Right? Please say you don't know!" Jayfeather's words made her wake up to full awareness pretty quick. She started to panic a bit, but quickly calmed down to his next sentence.

Jayfeather chuckled. "I'm kidding. I'm just going to talk with you like a normal cat. It won't be like...uh...what you said about your 'councilor'...whatever that means."

"Well, don't mention _that_. And if I told you what it was before I told you the details of it, you'll think you'll have the answer."

The medicine cat added on, "And I've actually been curious about you for a while now. You are just way too different. Not like me, but...different. I can't figure it out." Jayfeather looked like he was staring right into Whitepaw's brown eyes, which made Whitepaw a bit uncomfortable.

"That's because you never ran into it..."

Jayfeather and Whitepaw padded right out into the dim forest quietly. Whitepaw began to feel like she was beginning to use what she has as a tool to get him to be her friend, but she convinced herself that it was because Jayfeather and her clanmates didn't need to know until later. She didn't know how or when, but it had to be later.

They both began to spend the rest of the day together, just the two of them.

**You're secret can't stay hidden forever, Whitepaw...**

**Yes! I knew the part where Whitepaw and Jayfeather hang out was to happen at some point, but I didn't know how. But now I do. :D**

**And I finally added in the fox attack from Dovewing's Silence. Poor Molepaw and Cherrypaw...**

**Also, I don't really know how they collect honey, so this was just a random guess, a very strange guess.**

**Well, see you all later!**


End file.
